Rockies 9, Dodgers 6: The pen has another mess against the mighty Rockies as the bats can’t come up with big hit

Chad Moriyama 04/19/2026 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

Well, that didn’t go well … again. The Dodgers got out to an early lead … again, and then the bullpen blew it … again.

It’s too early to care much, but it’s a 9-6 loss.

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As mentioned, they got to Michael Lorenzen early a bit.

They did mount a rally in the 3rd, as a one-out double was ripped by Hyeseong Kim for an instant threat, and Alex Freeland followed with a well-placed single to make it 1-0.

Shohei Ohtani then followed by burning a double into the right-center gap to score Freeland and make it 2-0.

They continued to rally in the 4th, as Max Muncy led off with a single, Alex Call walked with one down, and then Ryan Ward came up with a single of his own to drive in a run. That’s his first MLB hit in his MLB debut, and obviously his first MLB RBI. 3-0 Dodgers.

Lorenzen did get through the 5th, though.

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Roki Sasaki started for the Dodgers and couldn’t throw strikes for much of the game, but still got through three scoreless frames. However, the 4th started with an infield single, a hit batter, and then TJ Rumfield singled on a grounder to cut into the Dodgers lead at 3-1. After walk loaded things up, he got a double play to escape.

In the 5th, falling behind constantly cost Roki, as he fell behind 3-0 and then Kyle Karros turned on a 3-1 fastball for a homer to make it 3-2.

A bloop double followed after Alex Freeland accidentally cut off Andy Pages‘ throw to second, and Edouard Julien followed with a groundball single up the middle to tie the game at 3-3.

After a pair of outs that sandwiched a wild pitch, Roki issued another walk and that was the end of his day: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 78 Pitches.

Alex Vesia entered and got the final out to prevent any further damage.

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From there it was truly a battle of the pens, as former starter Antonio Senzatela took over in the 6th for the Rockies. With one out in the inning, Alex Call started a rally with a single, and Ryan Ward followed with one of his own to put a pair on. Then with two down, it was Alex Freeland, fisting a single to right to give the Dodgers the lead again at 4-3.

They weren’t able to tack on after that, however.

Meanwhile, Will Klein‘s day started ominously when he made a quality pitch but it was still poked for a Coors Field double to start the 6th. Fortunately then, he came back with a strikeout and then got a pair of groundouts for a scoreless frame.

That fortune ended there, as Blake Treinen entered in the 7th and had an absolute stinker. A lead-off double was followed by a Mickey Moniak two-run homer to give the Rockies a 5-4 lead. Another double followed, and then a bloop single from Tyler Freeman scored another to make it 6-4. That was it for him, four runs and no outs.

Jack Dreyer entered and managed to keep his line at four runs, stranding the inherited runner with a strikeout, flyout, and Will Smith throwing out a stealing runner.

Unfortunately, things got worse from there, as Edwin Diaz entered for the 8th to get work in and started by giving up a single, a steal, walking a batter, and then giving up a bunt single somehow to load the bases. Julien then singled to plate two more runs to make it 8-4, and Dave had seen enough.

He turned to Kyle Hurt, who got a groundout that scored another run to make it 9-4, but then got out of the inning from there in another promising outing from him.

As you’ll notice, though, that four remained on the board.

Senzatela rebounded to get a clean 7th and Jimmy Herget worked around a pair of singles in the 8th. They did rally late against Victor Vodnik with a Shohei Ohtani double, a wild pitch, Will Smith scoring him with a one-out single, an infield single from Max Muncy, and then a walk to Andy Pages loading things up and bringing the tying run to the plate.

Dalton Rushing then hit a hard grounder that scored a run but he was thrown out at first, and Ward ended the game by flying out on a diving catch by Johnston.

Sigh.

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Congrats to Ryan Ward on his MLB debut.

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15-6, two-game losing streak!

The series finale will be tomorrow as the Dodgers will try to split at 2:40 PM HT/5:40 PM PT/8:40 PM ET with Justin Wrobleski on the bump against Jose Quintana.

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