The first-place Dodgers might not have much meaningful baseball ahead of them the rest of this regular season.
Still, losing a series to the last-place Rockies is an embarrassment that –– regardless of their place in the standings or odds to win the division –– is best to be avoided.
On Wednesday, that’s exactly what the club did, winning a 4-3 rubber match at Dodger Stadium thanks to a go-ahead eighth-inning RBI single from Mookie Betts that came at the end of an impressive nine-pitch at-bat.
The Dodgers hadn’t had many quality at-bats for much of Wednesday, not since scoring three runs in the first inning.
After that, they were held quiet by debuting Colorado starter Gabriel Hughes, while the Rockies got back into the game by tagging Roki Sasaki with three runs in a six-inning start.
Nevertheless, Sasaki did enough to at least keep the game tied. The Dodgers’ bullpen then wiggled out of a two-on, no-out (then bases-loaded, one-out) jam in the top of the eighth. And finally, the team’s offense came back to life in their final trip to the plate in the bottom of the inning.
The rally started with singles from Tommy Edman and Freddie Freeman against Rockies reliever Antonio Senzatela.
That brought up Betts, whose recent hot streak had cooled off during a 1-for-15 skid entering the night.
Betts quickly into a two-strike hole, but fouled off three different putaway pitches (a cutter, curveball and 99 mph fastball) to eventually work the count full.
On pitch No. 9, Senzatela left a sinker over too much of the plate. Betts roped it into the center to break the 3-3 tie.
With a ninth-inning save from Tanner Scott, the Dodgers would go on to clinch the series.
An unsightly result had been averted. Their march toward October continued apace.
What it means
The Dodgers (61-33) keep on stacking wins, securing a fifth-consecutive series victory on Wednesday to maintain the best record in the majors.
With just one more weekend to go until the All-Star break, they have a two-game lead on the Milwaukee Brewers for the top-seed in the National League, and a 6 ½ game edge of the Atlanta Braves for a first-round bye.
Who’s hot
Sasaki, at least by the end of the night.
A week removed from his latest setback –– a three-inning, six-run clunker against the Padres in which the Dodgers believed he was tipping his pitches –– the young right-hander was veering toward another disaster early on Wednesday, squandering the team’s early 3-0 lead on back-to-back homers in the second and, after a leadoff walk and pivotal wild pitch an inning later, a sacrifice fly in the third.
In the fourth, he almost went over the cliff, facing a two-on, no-out jam that threatened to knock him out of the game.
This time, however, the Japanese phenom recovered.
He got out of the fourth unscathed with the help of back-to-back strikeouts, both of which featured fastballs up to 99-100 mph.
He then proceeded to retire his next six in a row after that, punctuating with a nice snag on a comebacker in the fifth and two more strikeouts (one with his splitter, the other with his slider) in the sixth.
The outing completed an uneven first half for Sasaki, who hits the All-Star break with a 3-5 record and 5.33 ERA. But, at least this one will go down as a quality outing, snapping a recent four-start funk in which he suffered an ERA over 10.00.
Who’s not
The Dodgers did a lot of good in the first inning, jumping on debuting Rockies starter Gabriel Hughes for three quick runs after a single from Tommy Edman, a double from Freddie Freeman, walks from Mookie Betts and Max Muncy, and a two-run single from Kyle Tucker.
With two outs in the inning, however, Alex Call suffered some ABS infamy.
On back-to-back pitches, the backup outfielder attempted to challenge called strikes. Both times, he was wrong. Not only did it burn both of the Dodgers’ ABS challenges, but led to an eventual strikeout that retired the side and allowed Hughes to settle down.
Starting with that, he retired 15 in a row as the Rockies got back in the game.
Up next
The Dodgers are off on Thursday before finishing the first half with a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend. Shohei Ohtani (8-2, 1.79 ERA) will start on the mound in Friday’s opener.
