Dodgers 1 Rockies 8: Coors Field

The Dodgers got crush in game one in Colorado thanks to an awful seventh inning.

The Dodgers got a good outing out of their starter. However, their bullpen and lineup struggled and they dropped the opener in Colorado.

Dodgers Starter

Kenta Maeda is oddly brilliant at Coors. His offspeed stuff shouldn’t play as well as it does there, but Maeda has had success in each of his three starts at pitcher hell, including today’s.

Maeda was in a bit of trouble early on, but had an impressive strikeout of Nolan Arenado and got some help from Howie Kendrick in left to escape the jam. Maeda cruised until the fourth, but the Rockies scratched.

Kenta struck Arenado out for the second time to start the fourth. He followed that up by allowing a single and a fielders choice. Nick Hundley came up and crushed a pitch into the left field bleachers to give the Rockies a 2-0 lead.

Maeda recovered to end the inning and then tossed a 1-2-3 fifth before being pinch hit for. He finished the game with two runs and four hits allowed in five innings. He struck out six and only walked one. A little more length would have been nice, but Maeda gave the Dodgers a very Maeda-like outing.

Dodgers Offense

Jon Gray made his season debut against the Dodgers in April and allowed five runs in five innings. He shut them out the last time he saw them, and did more of the same today.

The Dodgers had their chances all game against Gray, but couldn’t cash in. They had two on in the first, but Gray struck Adrian Gonzalez and Yasmani Grandal out to keep LA off the board. The Dodgers had baserunners in every inning Gray was in, but went 0-6 with RISP and left nine on base against him.

Gray finished his six shutout frames with eight strikeouts, four hits and three walks. He also hit two Dodger batters, both on offspeed pitches. He needed 111 pitches to complete six, but he was dealing all day and the Dodgers couldn’t do much against it.

They got Gray out of the game, but it didn’t change things in the seventh. They got their baserunner when Corey Seager was hit by a pitch for the second time, but a groundout ended that threat.

Grandal led off the eighth with a walk, but the Dodgers were intent on hitting into a double play. Josh Reddick grounded to second, but beat out the return throw. Joc Pederson followed that up with another grounder, which was successfully turned into a double play.

Andrew Toles annoyingly made me rewrite part of this recap as he knocked a one out triple to the gap in the ninth. He scored on a Charlie Culberson groundout, preventing the Dodgers from being shut out for the first time at Coors since 2012.

The Dodgers have scored exactly two runs in their last 23 innings spanning over three games. They won two of those, but that’s definitely not the most promising number.

Dodgers Bullpen

Maeda was pinch hit for in the sixth. Grant Dayton was the first arm out of the pen, and he allowed a bloop single to Arenado but otherwise tossed a clean inning. Adam Liberatore was next out of the pen and struggled. He allowed a single, a walk and an RBI single by Charlie Blackmon to put the Rockies up 3-0. After a long battle with D.J. LeMahieu, Liberatore gave up a two-run double to put the Dodgers down five.

Pedro Baez relieved Liberatore and got an out, but gave up another double to make it 6-0. A walk and a jam shot bloop single extended the lead to 7-0, but got a strikeout to mercifully end the inning.

J.P. Howell came in for the eighth and allowed a pair of softly hit singles. He got a force out, but the return throw was off the mark to allow an eighth run.

Other Stuff

The Giants were off today, so the Dodgers lead is down to 1.5 games. The Giants will open a two-game series against the Diamondbacks tomorrow. SF are in Chicago for four with the Cubs this weekend while the Dodgers host the Padres, so no matter what happens at Coors, the Dodgers are in a fine position. It would be nice for them to grow their lead and beat the Rockies, but a bad series here doesn’t doom them.

It me.

The best thing about this game is no one probably got hurt. Seager was in pain after his second HBP of the game, but he remained in and didn’t show any ill effects.

Same time tomorrow, as Rich Hill will make his second Dodger start. Lefty Tyler Anderson will start for the Rockies.