Dodgers 5 Rockies 7: That Puig Throw Though

The Dodgers lost the game late and potentially lost a reliever. But Puig did something insane (in a good way).

The Dodgers’ three game set in Colorado seemed to get off to a great start, as Chase Utley led off with a double and Corey Seager hit a Coors Field homer that carried like crazy. Adrian Gonzalez followed that up with his third bomb of the season, and Scott Kazmir threw a 1-2-3 first. Just keep doing that, and it would be a great series.

That fun ended in the second inning, as Kazmir gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases, and the Rockies scored on a fielder’s choice. Kazmir got out of that inning only having given up the one run, so it was still all good.

Much like in his start at AT&T, Kazmir got victimized by the long ball when the Dodgers gave him an early lead to work with. Nolan Arenado destroyed a baseball in the fourth inning, and that’s not a big deal because he does that to a lot of pitchers. Noted Dodger killer Gerardo Parra hit a single, and Ryan Raburn hit a Coors homer to give the Rockies the lead. The Dodgers re-took the lead in the fifth on a two run single by Adrian Gonzalez, but bad bullpen returned in the seventh.

Yimi Garcia gave up a single and a walk to start the seventh, and both runners moved into scoring position on a bunt. He gave up a sac fly, and then because he’s a Dodger at Coors, he left the game with an injury. He reportedly has right bicep tightness (this report came literally seconds before I hit publish, thanks Andy).

Adam Liberatore finished off Garcia’s last batter, but the game was tied. It got untied in the bottom of the eighth, when Chris Hatcher allowed a one-out walk and a single. Both runners got into scoring position on a groundout, and Brandon Barnes smoked a triple to right-center to give the Rockies the lead and the win. Hatcher got too fastball-reliant again, and it cost him.

I went into the game not super caring about results. Wins are obviously better than losses, but I’m pretty pessimistic when it comes to Coors Field and I’ve seen it claim too many souls. It’s about as unpredictable as you can get with a baseball stadium, and with Kazmir, Kenta Maeda and Alex Wood scheduled to start in the series, I wasn’t expecting much, especially in game one with the Dodgers coming off consecutive extra inning games. I just wanted the Dodgers to get out of Colorado healthy, which is already not looking like a thing that will happen. You can’t really fault Kazmir for giving up four runs in five innings, because a lot of pitchers do that at Coors. You CAN fault the offense for being quiet in all but three innings (the two scoring innings and an inning where Yasiel Puig reached third with one out, but was stranded). These games happen, Coors is dumb.

Coors can be awesome at times.

I’m a reasonably athletic person at times. I might not look it, but I have solid hand-eye coordination and can play sports decently. I don’t think I could have set the baseball into Justin Turner‘s glove more accurately than Puig did from the right field wall. I’ll have to sleep on it, but this might be Puig’s best throw yet? The throw in his debut was also incredible and he has a number of other memorable ones, but this one was flawless.

Focus on the throw, not the rest of the game.