Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The NL West lead wasn’t on the line but the series was, and with the first place and second place teams playing, every game between them has potentially major ramifications in the end. The Dodgers have struggled against lefties this year, but today the offense exploded. While the Rockies fought back, the Dodgers held on for an 9-6 win.
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Rockies starter Tyler Anderson has not been very good in 2018, but he does throw left-handed. That matchup has given the Dodgers issues this year, but thankfully they jumped on him early. With one out in the 1st, Justin Turner singled to right and Manny Machado followed by ripping a double into the left-center field gap for a run. With two down, David Freese singled sharply to right, and while the throw beat Machado home, he ended up scoring after his elbow knocked the ball out of Chris Iannetta‘s glove.
The fireworks got started early in the 2nd, with Enrique Hernandez smoking a ball to left for his 20th dong of the year.
Here comes @kikehndez to lead off the second inn– pic.twitter.com/8RySegNUZW
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 9, 2018
Later on, with two outs, Brian Dozier drew a walk and JT followed by hitting a ball hard to left for what looked like the third out. However, Matt Holliday made a gigantic boner in left for a three-base error and a run.
Anderson didn’t last three innings, and the bats added more in the 5th, which started with a Matt Kemp single, Freese walk, and then Chris Taylor smashing a ball to center for a two-run double.
Bring 'em home, Chris! pic.twitter.com/fXvfudjYvR
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 9, 2018
The 6th started similarly well, with Cody Bellinger walking and JT following by smashing a ball over the wall in center for a two-run dong, his 13th of the season.
Adding a few more runs Justin case. pic.twitter.com/H5sTjOtcnk
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 9, 2018
So that was eight runs, and usually this would be enough by plenty, but it was Coors Field, so things were hardly easy.
Rich Hill started for the Dodgers, and while he allowed no walks and just four hits while striking out seven, he also surrendered four runs as all four of the hits he allowed were for extra bases (two doubles, a triple, a homer) and all of them scored. Hill had only thrown 78 pitches through his five-plus innings, but was removed after allowing back-to-back doubles. I guess one could second-guess this choice, and I probably would’ve let him go, but he was getting three more outs at most and wasn’t inspiring confidence.
Pedro Baez was summoned to get out of the jam in the 6th, and instead he poured gasoline on it by immediately allowing a two-run shot to Nolan Arenado that cut the lead to three. He did follow with three outs in a row, including two strikeouts, but the big blow to the lead was done.
In the 7th, Caleb Ferguson entered. He allowed a single, but faced the minimum after getting two fly outs, the last of which was turned into a double play when Gerardo Parra made the bizarre decision to try and tag up from first.
You don't want to play tag with @kikehndez. pic.twitter.com/GvtMqbuGpP
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 9, 2018
However, he was tasked with getting Charlie Blackmon to start the 8th, and instead gave up a dong to cut the lead to two. Kenta Maeda was called upon, and while he did bring the tying run to the plate with a walk, that was all he would allow in the 8th.
Thankfully, in the 9th, the Dodgers pushed insurance across. Enrique started things by tripling to left-center, and with one down, Alex Verdugo handled a lefty to push a single past a drawn-in infield to make things 9-6.
Kenta continued on in the 9th facing a righty, but the matchup backfired as he allowed a single before being removed for Scott Alexander. The grounder specialist got a foul out to left, a fly out to right and two line outs to secure the victory, which isn’t ideal, but results over aesthetics at this point.
To the team’s credit, this was a big series with a 50/50 type of matchup, and they came through.
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The Dodgers are 78-65 on the season, and the series victory gets them to within a half-game of the Rockies in the NL West. They’ll now travel to Cincinnati for a three-game series against the Reds, who don’t have a good record but do have guys who can mash. It’ll be Alex Wood taking the mound against Cody Reed.
