Dodgers 9, Rockies 5: James Paxton turns in his best of the year, as offense excels even sans homers

Chad Moriyama 06/17/2024 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

For a long time now, whenever the Dodgers visit Coors Field, I don’t hope for wins, I just hope for them to leave the place healthy. So far, so good, as there were no injuries that I was aware of. Adding a bonus to that is the Dodgers taking an early lead and never relenting in a 9-5 victory over the Rockies.

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Since it’s Coors, I suppose it shouldn’t be a surprise that the offense produced even without Mookie Betts. In the 1st it came out of nowhere, as a two-walk from Freddie Freeman was followed by a Teoscar Hernandez double to make it 1-0.

They did it with two outs again in the 2nd, as after a lead-off single from Miguel Rojas a couple outs followed that only advanced him to second base. However, Shohei Ohtani then singled sharply to right to drive him in, and Will Smith then tripled down the line in right to make it 3-0.

Considering the environment and context of the pen situation, James Paxton had his best start of the year. The only baserunners he allowed were a Jacob Stallings solo homer in the 2nd, a runner reaching on his own error in the 3rd, a two-out single in the 6th, and a two-out walk in the 7th. They did not have an at-bat with RISP the entire game against him.

He set a season high in innings and also blew past his previous season-high of five strikeouts: 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 91 Pitches.

Offensively, the Dodgers had the lead but wasted chances in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th.

Fortunately, they finally started to come through in the 7th, as Jason Heyward singled, Rojas doubled to score him, and Cavan Biggio singled to score Rojas on three consecutive pitches to push the lead to 5-1.

The added on in the 8th as well, as Shohei drew a walk, stole second, and advanced to third on a balk. After Freddie was intentionally walked, Teoscar also walked to load the bases, and Heyward eventually came through with a single to push the lead to 7-1.

They did still strand RISP in the 7th and 8th, but they escaped that fate in the 9th, as Biggio walked and Gavin Lux was given a “double” to center after Brenton Doyle slipped on a banana peel in center and allowed him to score. Eventually, Lux scored as well on a Smith sac fly, making it 9-1.

To finish out the game, it was J.P. Feyereisen with a five-pitch frame in the 8th, and he continued in the 9th with two outs before giving up a solo shot to Greg Jones for his first MLB hit. A couple doubles followed to score yet another run, and then Hunter Goodman homered to make it 9-5 before he was able to end the game.

Sheesh.

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Freddie went 1-for-1 with a single and five walks today, by the way. No record-tying six walks, though.

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NL WESTRECORD
Dodgers44-29
Giants36-37 (8.5 GB)

*Either still playing or will play later.

The two teams will do it again tomorrow at the same time of 2:40 PM HT/5:40 PM PT/8:40 PM ET with Walker Buehler looking to find better results despite the tough environment, and he’ll go up against Austin Gomber.

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