Rockies lose three of four games in series vs. Dodgers
When the Rockies bring their A-game, as they did in a 5-3 victory Saturday night, they can hang with the Dodgers.
But if the Rockies are just a tad off, as they were Sunday afternoon at Coors Field, the gulf between the two teams looks like the Grand Canyon.
The Dodgers — led by outfielder James Outman, who finished a triple short of hitting for the cycle in his major league debut — hammered the Rockies, 7-3, to take three out of four games in the series.
A quick update on the recent history of the two teams illustrates the chasm. Since 2019, the Dodgers are 43-18 against the Rockies, with a 22-12 record at Coors Field and 21-6 mark at Dodger Stadium.
The Rockies (46-57) trail the Dodgers (68-33) by 23 games in the National League West after L.A. finished July with a 21-5 record, a .808 winning percentage that ranks as the fourth best July in the ma- jors since 1900.
“What they do well, is they pitch,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “So run prevention for them is (paramount), so you know it’s going to be hard to get runs.
“A well-played baseball game can beat any team, but today was a little uneven for us. We didn’t play a clean game. When a team pitches really well, you have to stay right there with them.”
The Rockies were unable to do so.
With right-hander German Marquez on the mound, the Rockies were hopeful of a victory, but Dodgers’ right-hander Tony Gonsolin pitched just a bit better. More to the point, Los Angeles’ offense was more productive than Colorado’s. The Rockies had eight hits, and the Dodgers had 12.
“I felt good about this game,” said Marquez, who pitched at least six innings for his fifth consecutive start, but has a 5.64 ERA in four starts against Los Angeles this season.
Colorado was limited to one big inning — its threerun third. Rookie catcher Brian Serven led off with a homer to left off Gonsolin. Then Jose Iglesias was hit by a pitch, Kris Bryant walked and Brendan Rodgers rolled an infield single up the third-base line to load the bases. Randal Grichuk delivered a tworun single to give the Rockies a short-lived 3-2 lead.
Bryant, who’s been dealing with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, started the game in left field but was moving slowly and was removed after the fifth inning.
Gonsolin, now 12-1 with a 2.41 ERA, was charged with three runs on five hits over five innings.
Marquez had a decent outing, but he was hurt by some poor defense.
The right-hander was charged with five runs (four earned). The Dodgers tagged him for six hits, including a two-run homer in the third by Outman in his first big-league plate appearance. On the third major league pitch he saw, Outman roped Marquez’s 1-1 sinker into the left-field seats.
“I threw a sinker but it came back over the plate,” Marquez said.
In the fourth, the Dodgers benefitted from Rodgers’ miscue at second base. Marquez gave up a oneout walk to Jake Lamb, and Gavin Lux hit a tailormade double-play grounder to Rodgers. But Rodgers muffed the play and had to settle for throwing out Lux at first.
Instead of the inning being over, Marquez walked Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger ripped an RBI double to right field, scoring Lamb. When Randal Grichuk misplayed the ball, Muncy came around to score an unearned run to give L.A. a 4-3 lead.
The Rockies committed seven errors in the fourgame series and Black admitted he was a little surprised by Colorado’s subpar defense.
“We were on a pretty good run with team defense lately,” Black said. “Today, there were a couple of miscues and some uncharacteristic things happened. You can’t do that against a good team.”
Los Angeles extended its lead to 5-3 in the sixth with a leadoff double by Lamb, who scored on Muncy’s sacrifice fly to right. In the seventh, Outman led off with a single off Robert Stephenson and scored on Freddie Freeman’s double. In the eighth, Outman’s RBI double to right off Jake Bird scored Lux, who opened the inning with a walk.
The Rockies are 11 games under .500 as Tuesday’s trade deadline approaches, but it still appears unlikely that they will be major sellers. Monday, they begin a four-day, five-game series at San Diego, that includes a doubleheader on Tuesday.