Dodgers 14, Rockies 3: Bats explode for 18 hits, led by J.D. Martinez’s 4-hit day that included a dinger

Chad Moriyama 06/29/2023 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

It’s the end of June and there was a hail delay of an hour and 50 minutes at Coors Field, further reinforcing that this is indeed Satan Field.

At least some players were having fun with it.

All that gave way to a rather explosive game thanks to the Dodgers just constantly piling on to the poor Rockies. Things were a lot more interesting early, but the Rockies were unable to keep up and it ended in a 14-3 blowout.

The Dodgers have now won three straight series and have won six of their last eight.

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Rockies starter Chase Anderson has had a rough go of things so far this year, and the Dodgers made it even harder for him from the get go. Mookie Betts led the game off with a double, Freddie Freeman got hit by a pitch, and a J.D. Martinez fly out fell in for a “single” after Randal Grichuk lost the ball in the sky. Anderson did strikeout three batters to minimize the damage, but it was 1-0.

The Rockies did come right back against Emmet Sheehan in the 1st, notching a pair of singles to corner the runners, which led to Elias Diaz‘s game-tying sacrifice fly. Credit to Sheehan for working around an infield single that followed and the general soft contact singles he faced.

This thing was going back-and-forth a bit early, as after a clean 2nd, Anderson gave up another double to Betts to lead-off the 3rd. That eventually led to a two-out Martinez single (a real one) that made it 2-1.

Like I said though, it was wild early, and the Rockies came back and then some. Sheehan got a clean 2nd, but gave up a pair of singles to start the 3rd, and a stolen base where he forgot about the runner put a pair in scoring position. It was Diaz again who took advantage, blooping in a single for a 3-2 lead to the Rockies.

A frustrating outing for Sheehan to that point, as he was getting Coors’d.

Thankfully, the Dodgers allowed him to breathe a bit by putting up a massive 4th. A Jason Heyward double started the festivities, Miguel Vargas and James Outman then both walked to load things up, and after a Mookie sac fly to tie the game, Freddie singled for a 4-3 lead.

That knocked Anderson out, but the pen provided no relief, as the struggling Max Muncy drilled a ball off the top of the fence in right-center for two more runs, and J.D. followed with his third hit of the night to make it a six spot and 8-3 to the Dodgers.

Surprisingly they didn’t let up in the 5th, a Heyward double started the inning, an Outman single cornered the runners, and Mookie walking loaded the bases again. With two outs (because of course), Freddie singled two runs home and Muncy also singled for a multi-hit game to drive in another and make it 11-3.

Meanwhile, after some of the earlier turbulence, Sheehan settled in to comfortably get through five. He gave up just a single (his seventh) in the 4th and then got a clean 5th to complete the outing.

5 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 88 Pitches.

The Dodgers weren’t relenting on offense though, as a David Peralta single was followed by a Vargas triple to the oppo gap to push the lead to 12-3.

They scored again in the 7th, a fifth straight inning, after Yonny Hernandez was hit by a pitch, Martinez singled for his fourth hit, Jonny Deluca came up with a single, and Heyward followed by beating out an infield single to score two more and make it 14-3.

The Rockies finally ended the streak of scoring in the 8th and kept them off the board the rest of the way.

I mean, it was enough, clearly.

In the 6th, the Dodgers pen entered, starting with Yency Almonte against his old team. He cruised through a 10-pitch inning with a pair of strikeouts and gave way to Victor Gonzalez in the 7th. He too cruised, taking 13 pitches to get two strikeouts and a clean frame.

The 8th was given to Justin Bruihl, who gave up a single to start, but then Yonny turned an odd double play on an infield pop, and another infield pop to Yonny made sure Bruihl faced the minimum.

As the fresh arm, Bruihl also got the 9th, gave up a single to start, got another double play (this one on a grounder), and got a groundout to end it. Minimum faced. Easy!

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NL WESTRECORD
Diamondbacks48-34
Dodgers45-35 (2 GB)
Giants45-36 (2.5 GB)

*Either still playing or will play later.

The Dodgers will continue their road trip in Kansas City where they’ll play three against the Royals, who they really should be beating. It’ll start at 2:10 PM HT/5:10 PM PT/8:10 PM ET with Bobby Miller (4.13 ERA/3.47 xERA/4.37 DRA) looking to end his run of a couple struggle starts against Jordan Lyles (6.68/4.91/6.57).

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