Alyssa Maldonado
Game 60, 6/1/2024: Dodgers 4, Rockies 1
After Friday’s listless performance against Colorado, it was clear on Saturday that the Dodgers had had just about enough of losing to the last place Rockies. Seven out of the nine batters in the Dodgers lineup had at least one hit in this winning response after last night’s loss. Dodgers’ offense came alive in this one, collecting 11 hits total as the bottom of the lineup continues to show up to the plate. Not to be outdone, the top of the batting order started to put some hits together late in the game to add on some insurance. In all, it was just enough offense to beat the Rockies by a score of 4-1.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto took to the mound in this one, hoping to improve upon his last start in Cincinnati, which was arguably his worst since his Korean misadventure in March. At first, things look a little shaky for the Japanese righthander, as he gave up a double and a walk in the top of the first to put him in an unwanted early jam. However, he got out of it with a Kris Bryant strikeout, and got the Dodgers back to the bat rack with no damage done.
He was not quite so lucky in the top of the second. Brendan Rogers led off with another double, and two productive outs later, the Rox were on the board with a 1-0 lead. However, the lead would turn out to be very short-lived indeed.
The bottom of the lineup got things going for the Dodgers in the bottom of the second against Colorado starter Cal Quantrill. Teoscar Hernández continues to swing a good bat as he got on first with a one-out single to center field. Gavin Lux then broke his bat hitting a sharp ground ball to the first baseman, Elehuris Montero, who then tried to double up Hernández at second but instead threw it into left field. Hernández broke for third and then came in to score on an throwing error by the left fielder, Sean Bouchard.
Andy Pages kept the inning going with a single to left field. Following that, Jason Heyward smashed a double into the right centerfield gap, allowing a speedy Pages to score the go-ahead run with no throw to home.
Shohei Ohtani showed off on the base paths he stole second base after he worked Cal Quantrill to a one out walk in the bottom of the third inning. This was a milestone for Ohtani, being his 100th career stolen base. However, Ohtani got a little too ahead of himself as Quantrill tried to pick him off at second leading to a rundown, where he would be tagged out. Which seemed to hurt the Dodgers as very next hitter Freddie Freeman laced a sngle to right field that would have easily scored Ohtani from second. Then, after a Will Smith groundout ended the inning, the Dodgers once again left the inning scoreless. In all, nine Dodgers were stranded on the basepaths in this one, a lot of ducks on the pond.
However, the bottom of the lineup continued to manufacture runs with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. After Lux hit into a double play, Andy Pages and Jason Heyward got on with back-to-back singles. Then Kike Hernández came through with his first hit of the night, a single to center field that allowed Pages to score easily and advance Heyward to third. Mookie Betts would then come up with an inning ending fly out to shallow center field. Killing the momentum as the bottom of the lineup continues to be the life of the Dodgers lineup against this Rockies pitching staff. A definite change from what we’ve been used to seeing the first two months of the season.
In the top of the fifth, the Rockies tried to make things interesting after a two out walk. Ezequiel Tovar tried stealing second base, but was thrown out by Will Smith. It was his 15th runner caught stealing this season. The play gave more evidence for Dave Roberts‘ statement earlier this week of Smith being the best catcher in baseball.
Going into the bottom of the fifth, Freeman began to change the fortunes for the top of the lineup with a one-out triple. Freeman would then score on a double by Will Smith after he battled through an eight-pitch at bat. The Dodgers would then go down in the order with back to back strikeouts, but with a 4-1 lead and finally production out of the top of the lineup.
By this time, Yamamoto had settled into a good groove. He didn’t have his best stuff in this one, but managed to pitch around traffic all night and limit the damage to just that one manufactured run in the second inning. His line for the night on 101 pitches: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K. With this performance, Yoshi gets June off to a good start and lowers his 2024 ERA to a solid 3.32.
The Dodgers’ bullpen then came in to shut out the Rockies the rest of the way as Daniel Hudson, Blake Treinen, and Evan Phillips, only allowed two hits them, both of them in the eighth off Treinen. The bullpen continues to find their groove in limiting runners and making hitters earn hits, rather than giving up free passes. This was Phillips’ first outing out of the bullpen since the beginning of the May as he was just activated from the IL. The Dodgers’ closer looked comfortable as he earned the save, striking out one batter along the way. All together, the pitching staff collected 10 strikeouts.
The Dodgers now look ahead to Sunday’s day game against the Rockies, with Gavin Stone expected to start against Rox lefty Austin Gomber (1-2, 2.76 ERA). Then, it’s off on the road to face Paul Skenes and the Pirates before a three-day weekend matchup against the mighty New York Yankees. Those series are both going to be great, but the Dodgers need to take care of business and beat these Rockies. Game time is 1:10 pm. See you at the ballpark!
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