DENVER — The sun was out all day in Denver on Saturday and the temperature was 24 degrees higher at first pitch than it was for the coldest recorded game in Dodgers history on Friday (35 degrees).
But a chill settled on the Dodgers’ bats instead.
Kyle Tucker and Dalton Rushing hit home runs in the first two innings, but the Dodgers had just five more hits over the next seven innings and an early lead melted away like Friday’s snow as they lost to the Colorado Rockies, 4-3. That snapped a four-game winning streak for the Dodgers (15-5).
“We had some opportunities and couldn’t create some distance and kept them in the ballgame,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It really wasn’t a huge inning; a two-run inning (for the Rockies) was the difference in the game. We’ve been swinging the bats well. You’re not always going to put up crooked numbers every night. But I thought tonight we could’ve taken better at-bats.
“But you’ve got to give those guys credit. They went to their guys in the ’pen and kept us at bay.”
The Dodgers scored in each of the first five innings to build Friday’s frosty win. Things looked headed in the same direction Saturday when they needed just two pitches to take the lead again.
Shohei Ohtani bounced the first pitch to first baseman Troy Johnston, who fielded it and flipped the ball over the head of pitcher Ryan Feltner, covering first base. Ohtani reached base on the error.
Feltner was out of sorts after jumping to try and corral Johnston’s throw. When he settled back on the mound, he started Kyle Tucker off with a high fastball. Tucker clubbed it 435 feet into the seats for a two-run home run, the first of his three hits in the game.
“It wasn’t a bad pitch. It was a heater at the top of the zone,” said Tucker, who had hits in each of the previous four games but was just 7 for 36 (.194) before Saturday. “But I feel like I should be able to hit those pitches and stay on top and stay through them. Barrel them up more often, but that was just a good swing right there.
“I have had good swings. I just need to carry over to the next at-bat, next at-bat, the next at-bat and the next game rather than just kind of sporadically throughout. So I just had a few good at-bats and good swings. I just need to do a better job at carrying it over to the next one.”
Rushing has spread his good at-bats out alright. He has to, given his sporadic playing time. He added a solo home run in the second inning that was his fifth home run in his first 16 at-bats this month (to go with two doubles and two singles).
But the Rockies stayed one step behind.
Dodgers starting pitcher Emmet Sheehan continues to search for his groove this season. His fastball velocity was down again (93.8 mph on Saturday), and he struggled to command it. Twelve of the first 20 fastballs he threw missed the strike zone, and he got zero swings-and-misses on it in his five innings of work.
“It just seemed like early on, he didn’t have good feel for anything, to be quite honest,” Roberts said. “The ball-strike ratio wasn’t good. But I give him a lot of credit, because he grinded … and made pitches when he needed to.”
Sheehan managed to keep the Rockies from landing the big blow. They scored just single runs in the first and second innings off him.
The Dodgers’ lead disappeared in the sixth when Will Klein took over. He gave up three consecutive hits to start the inning – a double by Hunter Goodman, a single off Klein’s leg by Ezequiel Tovar and a two-run double by Johnston.
“I thought tonight his sweeper, the feel for spin wasn’t good,” Roberts said. “He didn’t have it, and I think a couple of those hits early were just cement mixers that just didn’t do anything. If that’s the elements, I don’t know how much he’s pitched here. But yeah, tonight, it just wasn’t sharp.”
Trailing for the first time since their Sunday loss to the Texas Rangers, the Dodgers stranded Freddie Freeman after his one-out triple in the sixth inning.
In the eighth, they wasted another chance to score. Ohtani led off the inning and reached base on a catcher’s interference. Tucker followed with his third hit of the game, a single. But Andy Pages was called out on strikes when the Rockies challenged a ball call and it was overturned by ABS. Freeman flew out to deep center field, allowing Ohtani and Tucker to advance.
Teoscar Hernandez drew a walk to load the bases with two outs for Max Muncy. He grounded out softly to second base.
A pinch-hit single by Will Smith brought Ohtani to the plate with two outs in the ninth. He singled to right field, extending his on-base streak to 50 consecutive games and putting the tying and go-ahead runs on base for Tucker. He flew out to left and the Dodgers finished the game 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
Other than his walk, Hernandez has been particularly unproductive at Coors Field. He is 0 for 8 in the series with four strikeouts and a double play. Runners were on base ahead of him for seven of those at-bats.
“I think that up to this point with runners in scoring position, we’ve been able to whether it be earn a walk or swing at good pitches and get hits,” Roberts said. “Today it just seemed like we chased a lot more than we have. We had opportunities. I thought Tuck swung the bat really well. I thought Freddie looked great up there. We just couldn’t get any other support.”