Dodgers 2 Rockies 12: Thank Goodness That Is Over

The Dodgers drop game two against the Rockies as their offense went silent after the first inning.

The Dodgers made multiple different moves before first pitch this afternoon. According to their Twitter, they recalled Brock Stewart (tonight’s starter), Josh Fields and Julio Urias from their AAA affiliate the OKC Dodgers. The club also placed multiple guys in the DL. Louis Coleman was placed on the DL due to right shoulder fatigue. Joining him is Adam Liberatore who was placed on the DL due to left elbow Inflammation, but his DL stint was retroactive back to July 30th. The Dodgers also optioned Andrew Toles and Josh Ravin. Ravin was placed on the restricted list when it came out late spring that he failed a drug test. Toles and Ravin will be with the OKC Dodgers now. They also extended Clayton Kershaw’s DL stint to the 60 day list. That means Kershaw would be eligible to return on August 27th. The Kershaw news was nothing really new. It is still unclear on whether or not he will need surgery, but no one expected Kershaw to return before late August so no reason to panic there. Alright, now that we are all caught up on the multiple moves the Dodgers made right before game time, we can get into the game recap now.

The Dodgers wasted no time in getting on the board this evening. With one out in the top of the first inning, Corey Seager singled to center. Then Justin Turner hit a two run shot to right. The ball carried really far. At first it looked like Turner’s ball was going to stay in the park, but it carried into the stands and the Dodgers quickly took a 2-0 lead.

Stewart had a 23 pitch inning and allowed five runs in the bottom half of the first inning. Two singles started off the inning for the Rockies and then Nolan Arenado came up and crushed a three run home run. Arenado has been struggling lately, but Stewart clearly missed his spot. A.J. Ellis was looking for the ball to be low and away, but it hung to Arenado. Another single and then Mark Reynold’s sent a ball over the center field wall, which gave the Rockies the lead by a score of 5 to 2.

In the second inning, Joc Pederson worked a one out walk. Ellis then singled to center and Pederson with some aggressive base running advanced to third on the single. Stewart came up and tried to put  bunt down to advance Ellis to second, but Pederson was far down the line and the bunt went almost directly to the pitcher, so Pederson was called out at third. From really heads up base running on the single, to really poor base running decisions on the bunt. Howie Kendrick grounded out and just like that the inning was over as the Dodgers don’t score thanks to poor metal errors.

The score would remain tied until the bottom of the fifth inning and it was not looking too great for the Dodgers. A two run shot from D.J. Lemahieu and another home run to follow from Carlos Gonzalez gave the Rockies an 8 to 2 lead. Even after the back to back home runs, Dave Roberts chose to leave Stewart in the game. He walked Arenado and allowed a single to David Dahl, then his night was over. Stewart ended up going 4.0 innings, allowed 9 runs, walked one and struck out one. He was by no means fooling any of the Rockies hitters, but most of the runs came off of home runs. Stewart allowed four home runs this evening. He may be lights out in AAA, but it is clear he needs to make some progress in the majors. He was pretty good in certain innings, but he either got the Rockies to ground out or send the ball yard.

Josh Fields came in to relieve Stewart. He allowed a single which made the score 9 to 2, Rockies and that final run was charged to Stewart. After allowing one, he was able to get out of the inning.

Julio Urias came in a relief appearance for the bottom of the sixth. Another home run and four more hits, the Rockies added three more runs to their already large lead. Come the end of the sixth the score was now 12 to 2, Rockies.

Basically the Dodgers offense was shut down after the first inning. This game started off very promising with scoring two runs in the first inning, but it only went downhill from there. The Dodgers ended up having six hits on the night, but could not bring any home after the first. The Rockies however ended the night with 17 hits.

It is pretty sad that the Dodgers have now dropped back to back games to a team who has struggled all season. The Rockies are now 14-5 after the All-Star break. The third and final game of the series is tomorrow as Kenta Maeda takes the mound and the Dodgers look to avoid the sweep. At least the Giants lost.