LOS ANGELES — The Colorado Rockies have the worst record in the National League. But they aren’t pushovers.
The Dodgers found that out this week. For the third consecutive game, the Rockies made an early Dodgers’ lead disappear, forcing the Dodgers to put together a game-winning rally in the eighth inning capped by Mookie Betts’ go-ahead RBI single to beat them, 4-3, on Wednesday night.
The Dodgers took two of three in the series, but all three games were one-run decisions.
Making his first major-league start (second appearance), the 10th pick in the 2022 MLB draft, right-hander Gabriel Hughes got off to a shaky start.
He gave up a one-out single to Tommy Edman and a double to Freddie Freeman. Back-to-back walks forced in a run and Kyle Tucker drove in two more with a two-out single sliced to left field.
Hughes struck out Alex Call – who burned the Dodgers’ two allotted ABS challenges on unsuccessful attempts to reverse calls – to end the inning.
Hughes is a quick learner – he got his degree in biology from Gonzaga in just three years. He course-corrected after that rough first inning and struck out five of the next seven Dodger batters after Tucker’s single and retired 15 in a row before the Dodgers had another hit.
By then, the Rockies had erased the three-run getaway in a mixed bag of a start from Roki Sasaki.
Sasaki came in on a four-start stretch during which he had a 10.66 ERA, was hit for a .300 average and completed five innings just once with questions raised about whether he was tipping pitches.
This was better than that. He made it through six innings and retired the last nine batters he faced.
But he also gave up solo home runs to Kyle Karros and Edouard Julien in the second inning and walked the No. 9 hitter, Brett Sullivan, to start the third inning. A wild pitch, a ground out and a sacrifice fly turned that into the tying run.
It looked like Sasaki’s night might go further south when he gave up a single to TJ Rumfield to start the fourth inning and Karros bounced a double down the third-base line. At that point, five of 10 Rockies had reached base against Sasaki, starting with Karros’ home run. But Sasaki struck out Troy Johnston and Julien then got Ezequiel Tovar. He didn’t give up another hit in his six innings.
The Dodgers’ bullpen kept the game tied in the eighth inning despite a throwing error by third baseman Max Muncy and a double by Jake McCarthy to start the inning and an intentional walk to load the bases with one out. Alex Vesia and Edgardo Henriquez combined to strand all three.
In the bottom of the inning, the Dodgers didn’t waste their opportunity. Singles by Edman and Freeman put runners at the corners with one out against Rockies reliever Antonio Senzatela. Betts fell behind in the count, 1-and-2, but fouled off three pitches, worked the count full and stroked the ninth pitch of the at-bat into center field to drive in the go-ahead run.
More to come on this story.