Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After a pair of much-needed wins at Coors Field to start the series, the Dodgers took another lead late into the game tonight when the offense rushed out to an early lead. However, defensive miscues and Alex Vesia‘s struggles deepening led to a tie game, and things went into extras. Fortunately, it was the Dodgers who were able to put a pair on the board there, and Tanner Scott was great again for a 6-4 win and a sweep.
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Rockies starter Kyle Freeland has had a disaster of a year but had been better lately. Unfortunately for him, things got back to bad today.
After he started with four outs in a row, Mookie Betts got on via an infield single. A second out followed, but Kyle Tucker came up with a single of his own to corner the runners, and Enrique Hernandez took advantage by poking a single to center to make it 1-0 Dodgers early.
After singles from Mookie and Tucker, Keekay starts the scoring with a single of his own. pic.twitter.com/ksCMVZk6VL
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 20, 2026
After a scoreless 3rd where he issued just a two-out walk, the 4th started with the 16th homer of the year for Mookie Betts. Tucker followed with his second hit of the game with one down, and Enrique cashed that in as well with his second homer of the year as he heats up to make it 4-0 Dodgers.
Mookie leads off the 4th with a solo shot to double the lead. pic.twitter.com/AZuIpMxyMg
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 20, 2026
Keekay is starting to get going again, smashing a two-run shot to double the lead again.
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 20, 2026
Note: The glitch was on the broadcast, not me. https://t.co/afoN0fniLu pic.twitter.com/arkpY9VHmN
After a lineout for the second out of the 4th, Freeland then exited the game with what was seemingly a back injury. Mark Manfredi entered for his MLB debut, gave up a walk and a hit, but got the final out of the frame.
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On the other end was Roki Sasaki, looking to make a bounce back from an inconsistent start last time out in what is probably the worst place to look for a bounce back.
Still, he worked around a one-out double in the 1st, then a one-out double (that got to third on a groundout) and two-out walk in the 2nd was escaped thanks to a Ben Rortvedt seed to second on a steal attempt.
Rortvedt with an absolute seed to second to get Roki out of a minor jam. pic.twitter.com/FwgnldV1Qa
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 20, 2026
He still couldn’t get a clean inning after a two-out single in the 3rd, but still no damage. That changed in the 4th, as a lead-off single was followed by a one-out double that put a pair in scoring position. Adael Amador followed by hitting a flyball to left, but Teoscar Hernandez initially broke in and didn’t seem to get a good read on it, which allowed the “double” to fly over his head to plate both runners to cut the lead to 4-2.
Lead is halved on a "double" that Teoscar took a fascinating route to. pic.twitter.com/USzjONVGdK
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 20, 2026
Thankfully, Roki was able to limit the damage to just that with a pair of outs to strand Amador, but it probably should’ve just been one run. He followed that by giving up a two-out single in the 5th but keeping things scoreless, but all the two-strike damage meant his pitch count was up.
Still, given that it’s Coors, it was a solid start: 5 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 99 Pitches.
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On the other side, the Rockies pen was doing good work. Manfredi got a clean 5th, then old friend Nick Frasso gave up just a two-out single in the 6th and worked around a two-out double in the 7th. Jaden Hill and Jordan Romano then got clean frames in the 8th and 9th, respectively.
The Dodgers offense was quieted.
Looking to maintain their lead was the Dodgers pen, and first out was Brock Stewart in the 6th, and he was dominant in striking out a pair in a clean frame.
Oh Brock Brock, I wish your shoulder wasn't made of paper. pic.twitter.com/pfRkQlcs2F
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 20, 2026
Alex Vesia was next in the 7th, and he continued to look rather terrible, honestly. He got two outs, but then issued another walk, and then got bitten by it when Mickey Moniak crushed a game-tying two-run homer to tie things up at 4-4.
MICKEY! TIE GAME! pic.twitter.com/8ZCTwUSaVx
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) August 20, 2026
Just can’t happen.
In the 8th, Jack Dreyer worked around a lead-off walk and got a pair of strikeouts in a scoreless frame. Kyle Hurt followed in the 9th, with a scoreless frame, striking out a pair and only giving up a two-out infield single.
Kyle Hurt sends things to extras with the K. pic.twitter.com/L9qgYaAS6g
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 20, 2026
Bonus baseball!
It was Jimmy Herget in the 10th for the Rockies, and it started with a Teoscar Hernandez single to left that cornered things as the Manfred Runner in Andy Pages had to hold at third. Freddie Freeman did his job with a sac fly to left to make it 5-4, and Teoscar did a great job tagging to get to second, and then Mookie’s third hit of the night gave them a 6-4 lead.
Freddie gives the Dodgers the lead with a sac fly after Teoscar's single cornered things. pic.twitter.com/YG2tZeaKL4
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 20, 2026
Had to step out, but Mookie's third hit of the game gives them insurance. pic.twitter.com/qYuoGnqrMe
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 20, 2026
After a diving play robbed the Dodgers of a bigger rally, Brennan Bernardino entered to get the final out of the frame.
That gave some breathing room to Tanner Scott, who had to get up for the third day in a row and got into the game for the second in a row. All he did was get two first-pitch outs and a strikeout to end the game on just eight pitches.
Sweep!
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| NL Seeding | Record | GB |
| Brewers | 78-49 | – |
| Dodgers | 77-51 | 1.5 |
| Braves | 74-53 | 4.0 |
The Dodgers will have a much-needed day off tomorrow as they travel back home to Los Angeles, where they’ll welcome in the Pirates for a three-game series starting at the usual time of 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET. It’ll be Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the bump looking to continue his great year against Bubba Chandler.
As far as things to read tomorrow, well you can stick around here to go through Bruce’s entire prospect ranking update.
