Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Los Angeles Dodgers started their 2021 campaign with a sloppy 8-5 loss to the Colorado Rockies on Opening Day. Looking to notch their first win of the season, the Dodgers sent Trevor Bauer to the mound in his regular season Dodgers debut. Things went smoother in Game 2 for the Dodgers, resulting in a 11-6 win. Of course, there was a fair share of late-inning drama.
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The Dodgers hit the ball hard in the first inning against Antonio Senzatela. Corey Seager and Justin Turner hit consecutive singles. Cody Bellinger ripped a liner up the middle, but Colorado’s Trevor made a nice snag at short to get the second out. Max Muncy‘s RBI single scored Seager. Will Smith continued the line-drive fest with an RBI single, giving the Dodgers an early 2-0 lead.
Before the game, Bauer announced the launch of his charity initiative to benefit nonprofits in the Los Angeles area.
Bauer absolutely dominated through six hitless frames as he unleashed his cutter and slider. He allowed 4 runs on 3 hits with 10 strikeouts and two walks on 96 pitches (67 strikes). Even though the 7th wasn’t pretty (spoiler alert), Bauer was impressive in his Dodgers debut.
Josh Fuentes was the first strikeout for Bauer in a Dodgers uniform, and the slider that got Fuentes in the 1st was filthy.
Trevor Bauer, Wicked 82mph Slider. 🤢
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 3, 2021
1st K as a Dodger. pic.twitter.com/iMxtk17iEw
Gavin Lux made a highlight reel diving play for the third out on a sharp Trevor Story grounder. That’s our second baseman.
The Dodgers scored two more runs in the 2nd thanks to back-to-back-to-back two-out doubles by Mookie Betts, Seager and Turner. The Dodgers were hitting to all parts of the park, and the Rockies couldn’t get to any of them.
For the first time this season, the Dodgers went down in order in the 3rd. Bauer also sent the Rockies down 1-2-3 in the next frame, striking out two. Raimel Tapia and Bauer had a bit of a glaring match, but nothing else happened.
The Dodgers loaded the bases in the 4th vs. Sentzatela on a Lux single, a sac bunt by Bauer, a wild pitch, a Betts HBP and a Seager walk. Turner took advantage when he skillfully grounded a base hit to the right to score two, extending the Dodgers lead to 6-0.
Senzatela was not long for this one after surrendering 7 runs on 9 hits in only 3 1/3 innings. Bud Black brought in veteran Jhoulys Chacin to take over. Belli grounded into a force out, but Seager scored the Dodgers’ 7th run.
In the 5th they tacked on further with Lux tripling in Smith to make it 8-0.
The Rockies got a base runner on a Turner throwing error in the bottom of the 5th, but Bauer ended up striking out the side on some real nasty stuff.
Smith collected his third hit of the night to open the 7th, a double to left. Smith took third on AJ Pollock‘s first hit of the season, a single. Smith came home on a second successful sac bunt by Bauer. Another hit by Mookie, a Seager force and a Colorado error led to the Dodgers’ 10th run of the game.
Meanwhile, Bauer’s no-hitter bid was broken up on the first pitch of the 7th inning on a Story line-drive single to left. Things unraveled for Bauer after that. The shutout was gone after Charlie Blackmon hit a two-run homer, the first long ball of the season at Coors Field. Bauer followed by walking C.J. Cron, and then Ryan McMahon crushed a Bauer cutter for another two-run home run for the Rockies.
Dave Roberts finally went to the bullpen with one out, bringing in David Price. Dom Nunez and Sam Hilliard immediately hit back-to-back home runs off Price, and all of a sudden the Dodgers’ commanding lead was cut to 10-6.
David Price Relief Project Status: ABORT
Bellinger hit the Dodgers’ second triple of the night to open the 8th vs. Carlos Estevez. Smith’s sac fly gave the Dodgers 11 runs.
There was a delay when a gray cat ran out on to the field.
Those are good tweets, Chad.
Victor Gonzalez got the ball for the 9th and was able to fight off the curse of Coors to finish the game for the Dodgers and give them their first victory of the season.
That was a lot more fun than yesterday (mostly). The offense broke out with 16 hits. Turner, Seager and Smith had three-hit nights.
The third game of the series starts at 5:10 PM PST on Saturday when Walker Buehler takes the mound for the Dodgers. He’ll go against fellow right-hander Jon Gray.
