Rockies 6, Dodgers 1: ONE GODDAMN HIT

The Dodgers dropped the series opener against the Rockies tonight, 6-1, as professional intentional walk fetishist Dave Roberts continued to do what he loves and professional third-time-through-the-order-struggler Mike Bolsinger continued to do more of what he loves as well. Somehow, and this is shocking, the combination of those things didn’t work out great for the Dodgers and resulted in their winning streak being ended in comfortably boring fashion.

Oh yeah … the Dodgers got ONE GODDAMN HIT.

https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/737714733839572993

https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/737919438750650369

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Through five innings, Bolsinger was relatively effective as usual, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk. Not the best, but certainly acceptable enough. Unfortunately, the sixth inning happened, and it just so happens that it was the third time through the Rockies order.

Let’s check to see how that went!

BB – SAC – 1B – IBB – HR

In five batters, the Dodgers went from down 2-1 to down 6-1, and the game was essentially done.

There were two main issues that came into play in that situation. Firstly, Bolsinger cannot pitch to batters a third time. Every pitcher has a penalty as the batter sees them in the same game, but Bolsinger is an extreme case, as he allows a .647, 762, and .967 OPS the first, second, and third times through the order, respectively. Secondly, Roberts loves to issue intentional walks for whatever reason. After tonight, the Dodgers are tied for fourth-most free passes in the majors at 19. The combination of the fetish for international walks and doing so to let Bolsinger face Trevor Story a third time unsurprisingly had a terrible result and was the back breaker for the game.

Going back to the game, Bolsinger was done after 5.1 innings and giving up six runs, but the bullpen was a bright spot again. Adam Liberatore, Casey Fien, Chris Hatcher, and J.P. Howell threw 3.2 scoreless innings.

Not that it mattered.

The lineup the Dodgers choose to start the game was always dubious, as Daniel spelled out in the game thread. Shockingly, that lineup with only three players with an OPS above .700 was limited to one run (on an out, of course) and one hit. The other five baserunners came on four walks and a hit by pitch.

Absolutely miserable.

ONE GODDAMN HIT

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The Dodgers play the Rockies again tomorrow night at 4:10 HST/7:10 PST/10:10 EST, with the pitching matchup being Julio Urias against Eddie Butler.

Maybe the Dodgers will play their starters tomorrow, and maybe Urias won’t get shelled. Maybe.

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"A highly rational Internet troll." - Los Angeles Times