Dodgers 6, Rockies 1: Scott Kazmir dominates, which is hopefully a sign

The Dodgers defeated the Rockies tonight, 6-1, to notch their third consecutive win and they’ve now come out on top in five of their last six. The offense came through with 10 hits, three walks, and a hit by pitch for six runs, but clearly the story was the pitching staff shutting down the Rockies lineup for the second night in a row.

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The story of the game was Scott Kazmir, who after posting a 5.40 ERA in June after seemingly turning the corner in May, threw six shutout frames in 100 pitches tonight. Kazmir did throw a lot of balls, which led to his high pitch count, but he walked none, hit one batter, and surrendered just three hits while striking out 10 hitters. Kazmir showed what he’s capable of when he has control of all three pitches and his fastball is humming at 92-94 mph and touching 96. It’s really just a matter of how often that guy shows up, so hopefully we see more of him for here on out.

In support of Kazmir, the Dodgers offense got off to a quick start against Rockies starter Chad Bettis, scoring two runs in the first frame. After Howie Kendrick led the game off with a ground out, Corey Seager singled to left and Justin Turner singled off Nolan Arenado‘s glove at third to put runners on first and second. Adrian Gonzalez then followed with a single of his own to center to drive in Seager for a 1-0 lead, and Yasiel Puig also singled up the middle to score Turner for a 2-0 lead.

They struck again in the third inning with two more runs. Again, the inning was started with a ground out (Seager), but then JT doubled to left and A-Gon walked. Puig then hit a chopper to advance both runners a base, which set things up for Trayce Thompson to reach out and line a double to left center to score both Turner and A-Gon for a 4-0 lead.

The Dodgers then added insurance runs in the seventh inning. Kendrick hit a one-out double, which was followed by a Seager walk, and JT then singled to left to load the bases. A-Gon then hit a sac fly to center to score Kendrick and make it 5-0, and Seager later scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-0.

Luckily, the insurance wasn’t that needed, as the bullpen (generally) came through. Casey Fien and J.P. Howell came in and got scoreless innings, but Chris Hatcher ruined the shutout after giving up a dinger to Arenado and put us at the final score of 6-1.

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The Dodgers improve to 46-37 overall and 25-15 at home with the win. To make things better, the Giants finally lost, meaning the Dodgers now trail by 5 games in the NL West. The win also means the Dodgers still lead the NL Wild Card by 1.5 games over the Mets.

The series sweep is on the line for the Dodgers tomorrow, as they play the Rockies at 10:10 AM HST/1:10 PM PST/4:10 PM EST. Brandon McCarthy makes his season debut coming off elbow surgery and he’s up against hard-throwing rookie Jon Gray.

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Vin Scully telling stories about Sandy Koufax and his own fail scouting.

“I must be the worst baseball scout in the whole world.”

Vin Scully explains his original thoughts on Sandy Koufax.https://t.co/PTzUUVoNF4

— MLB (@MLB) July 3, 2016

JT with the highlight of the game.