Dodgers lose battle of homers to drop opener against Rockies

LOS ANGELES — Sometimes, it comes in handy to actually put a runner in scoring position before the ninth inning. The Dodgers, in a bit of a let-down after the Padres’ series, didn’t really have anything that even remotely resembled a rally all night. Instead, they got out-slugged by the Rockies, who hit three home runs to the Dodgers’ two and won the contest against the Colorado Rockies 4-2.

Bazooka starts bullpen game

Still a little short in the starting rotation, the Dodgers went with another bullpen game on Friday night. And it got off to a bit of a rough start. Brusdar Graterol, who was so effective down in San Diego, didn’t have the good stuff in this one. He started the night by giving up a lead-off single to Connor Joe. Then, one batter later, Charlie Blackmon took the Bazooka deep to right for a two-run home run to stake Colorado to a very early lead.

Smith and Turner tie it up with long balls

Rockies’ pitcher Kyle Freeland had a couple of stress-free 1-2-3 innings to start off the game, but in the bottom of the third, the Dodgers broke through with a pair of practically identical solo home runs. First, with one out, Will Smith jumped all over a Freeland sinker and banged it off the left field foul pole for a round-tripper to put the Dodgers on the board. It was Smith’s sixth home run in the last fifteen games as the Dodger catcher continues with his blazing second half of the season.

After new pitcher Andre Jackson hit for himself and struck out, Trea Turner came to the plate and hit a virtual carbon copy of Smith’s homer, a pole hugging job down the left field line. After not hitting a home run in his first 13 games as a Dodger, Trea now has a couple of dingers in the last week.

Jackson solid, but gives up a Cron moonshot

Andre Jackson was called on to do the bulk work on Friday, and he once again did a pretty decent job of things, pitching 4.2 innings and giving up only four hits along the way. Unfortunately, in his final inning of work, CJ Cron spoiled his evening with a majestic home run to left leading off the sixth inning. The 482-foot blast was the longest home run hit at Dodger Stadium in the Statcast era (since 2015). Still, it only counted for one on the scoreboard, and Jackson was able to limit the damage in the inning to only that single run.

Bullpens take over

Freeland came out after the Dodgers’ half of the sixth, having pitched a very strong game. From there on out, it became a battle of the bullpens. With Andre Jackson on the bench, Justin Briule, Shane Greene, and Alex Vesia got the game to the ninth with no change to the scoreboard. Unfortunately, Vesia gave up a rare home run to Elias Diaz in the Rockies’ final at-bat to put the Dodgers in a 2-4 hole going into the bottom of the ninth.

Betts gets on, but stranded in the ninth

Mookie Betts led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a single to the gap in left center. Then, he quickly took second on a wild pitch from reliever Carlos Estevez. However, that’s where the inning sputtered to a stop. Though Estevez was wild, he managed to throw enough strikes to pinch hitter Max Muncy to get a chase on a 3-2 pitch for the first out. Corey Seager was then rung up on a horrible call from home plate umpire Jim Wolf on a pitch that was clearly outside. So, when AJ Pollock struck out on a check swing appeal, the whole inning sort of left a bad taste in the mouths of just about everyone in the stadium.

Price tries again on Saturday

The game was over, the Dodgers had lost, and there was nothing to do but head to the showers, thankful that at least the Giants’ had lost on Friday as well. David Price will get the ball on Saturday night, facing off against Jon Gray, who inexplicably was not traded at the deadline a couple of weeks ago. Price was so-so in his last start, so the Dodgers are hoping for better things from him as they try to get back into the win column. You don’t want to call it a must win situation, but losing a home series to the team with the worst road record in the National League would NOT be a good thing.