Looking for their first series win against the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2021, the Colorado Rockies fell short as they dropped the series finale 4-3. Despite an excellent rookie starting performance on the mound, the Rockies’ offense failed to back it up and capitalize on crucial scoring opportunities.
The Doctor is in
Making the first start of his big league career, Gabriel Hughes didn’t exactly sprint out of the gate. After getting Shohei Ohtani to fly out in the bottom of the first inning, Hughes battled his command through the rest of the inning.
Tommy Edman grounded a ball back up the middle for a base hit and moved to third on a double from Freddie Freeman. Hughes then walked Mookie Betts to load the bases, and then threw a wild pitch to allow a run to score, giving the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead. He then issued a walk to Max Muncy to load the bases again after a lengthy at-bat. After striking out Teoscar Hernández for the second out of the inning, Kyle Tucker then laced a two-run single to give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead. Hughes struck out Alex Call to end the inning, but had a pitch count of 39.
He rebounded nicely when he took the mound in the second inning, as he struck out Ohtani and Edman as part of a 1-2-3 inning. He followed suit in the third inning, striking out Freeman and Muncy in another 1-2-3 quick inning. The fourth and fifth innings also went in order, albeit with no strikeouts. Hughes recorded another strikeout in the sixth inning and ended up retiring 15 in a row before allowing a two-out double to Muncy.
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His night ended having allowed three runs on four hits over six innings with seven strikeouts and two walks. After the 39 pitches in the first inning, he threw 55 pitches over the next five and ended up having a first-pitch strike rate of around 80%. He also generated 11 whiffs during the game and exhibited a nasty array of pitches.
“Gabriel Hughes was fantastic today,” said manager Warren Schaeffer. “You never know how someone’s going to react to their first start, first time in Dodger Stadium, first time against that lineup. I thought it was a great first start.”
“It’s a perfect example of what happens when you attack guys with good stuff,” he continued. “They have to adjust to you. He was just relentless with his attack and it worked for him.”
Early response
After the long first inning, the Rockies wasted no time trying to erase the three-run deficit. Facing Roki Sasaki with one out, Kyle Karros turned on a ball for his fourth career home run against the Dodgers, getting the Rockies on the board.
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Two batters later, Edouard Julien joined in on the fun with a solo home run to right field, his third long ball of the season. Sasaki has been susceptible to the long ball lately, having surrendered nine over his last five games.
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In the following inning, the Rockies managed to manufacture a run to tie the game 3-3. Brett Sullivan led off the inning with a walk and moved up to third base after a wild pitch and a groundout. He then scored thanks to a sacrifice fly by Mickey Moniak, his 38th RBI of the season.
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The Rockies then had a chance to take the lead in the top of the fourth after TJ Rumfield singled and Karros doubled to start the inning. Unfortunately, Sasaki settled in to retire the next three batters to escape the jam. He continued to perplex the Rockies as he matched Hughes with a quick fifth and sixth innings of his own, retiring the final nine batters he faced. Sasaki went six innings, allowing three runs on four hits with five strikeouts and one walk. He threw 78 pitches, 56 for strikes, and generated 15 whiffs.
Night shift
For the third straight game, the Rockies would have to hope their luck wouldn’t run out in the late innings.
Braxton Fulford led off the eighth inning against Alex Vesia by bouncing a ball to third base that Muncy fielded but threw too high, allowing Fulford to reach. Jake McCarthy then followed with a hit to right field that bounced over the wall for an automatic double.
With runners on second and third with no outs, the Rockies emptied the bench by turning to Hunter Goodman as a pinch-hitter. Unfortunately, Goodman struck out on a high fastball for the first out of the inning. Cole Carrigg was then walked to bring Rumfield up to the plate, who struck out for the second out. Karros then flew out to right field to end the threat, and for the second time in the game, the Rockies failed to score after getting two men in scoring position with no outs.
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The failure proved costly as the Dodgers jumped on Antonio Senzatela in the bottom half of the inning. Edman singled with one out to right field and moved to third on a Freeman single. Betts then singled to center field to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead. Senzatela escaped the inning without further damage but the offense was unable to get anything going in the ninth as they were retired 1-2-3 by Tanner Scott.
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The Rockies had five hits on the night but struck out 10 times with just two walks and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Meanwhile, the Dodgers had seven hits and went 2-for-7 with RISP despite also striking out nine times with two walks.
“We know we need to execute better to win, especially here,” said Schaeffer. “We just didn’t do it tonight. We’ve been doing it a lot lately, just not tonight.”
Up next
The Rockies head north to San Francisco to face the Giants for four games. Ryan Feltner (3-2, 4.27 ERA) makes the start for the Rockies while the Giants have yet to announce their starter.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:45 pm MDT.
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