Dodgers unload on Rockies pen in 9-2 victory

DENVER — The Dodgers/Rockies game was shaping up to being a good ol’ fashioned pitchers’ duel for the first six innings. Walker Buehler and Kyle Freeland were both pitching well, and Freeland exited the game with the Rox trailing only by a score of 3-2. Then the Dodgers just creamed the Rockies’ bullpen, scoring six runs in the final three innings of the game as they cruised to a 9-2 win over Colorado. They got big nights from Buehler, Max Muncy, and Mookie Betts en route to their second straight win in Denver.

Betts and Muncy start the scoring early

When you have a night that Mookie Betts goes 4-for-4, you’re pretty much going to win the game. And Betts was the sparkplug for getting the Dodgers on the board first on Saturday night. He hit a sharp double to lead off the game, and came home to score on a Max Muncy single to centerfield. It was a pattern that would be repeated for most of the night, as it turned into the Mookie and Max show pretty quickly.

Then, after a sacrifice fly from Rockies’ pitcher Kyle Freeland tied up the game in the bottom of the second, Mookie went right back to work in his next at-bat. He took a four-seamer the other way for an oppo taco solo home run, and the Dodgers were back in front.

Betts exits with a hip injury in 7th

Betts would hit two more doubles on the night before he had to exit the game in the seventh after coming out of the box very gingerly on his last hit of the game. After the game, he seemed confident that the injury wasn’t that serious, but manager Dave Roberts said that he would get a blow in Sunday’s series finale so that he can return to the line-up next week. “It’s been kind of nagging at him all year,” Roberts said of the injury. “I think a lot of the running of the bases, outfield, caught up to him and it irritated a little bit. I’ll have him down [on Sunday] and he’ll be ready for the series on Monday.”

Buehler sharp in win

Walker Buehler gave up a second run in the bottom of the third, but after that, he was magnificent. He went seven strong innings on only 93 pitches, marking yet another quality start from the Dodgers’ ace. With the Dodgers scoring again in the sixth inning to take the lead, Buehler notched his tenth win of the season against only one loss, and continues to pitch better than anyone not named deGrom. His final line for the night: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 8 K.

Though Freeland nearly matched Buehler on Saturday, the Dodgers finally broke the 2-2 tie in the top of the sixth when Max Muncy once again singled home Mookie Betts in carbon copy of the Dodgers’ first run of the game. It was Muncy’s second RBI of the game, and he was just getting started.

Another home run for AJ

Now with the lead, the Dodgers started to feast on the Rockies’ bullpen once Freeland was pulled after six. AJ Pollock just annihilated the first pitch of his at-bat against reliever Mychal Givens and sent it deep into the left field seats. Like Betts, Pollock is on a tear. The dinger tonight was his seventh big fly of July and we’re barely half way into the month. It’s hard to overestimate what Pollock does when he is this hot hitting lower in the line-up. It just gives the batting order so much length that opposing pitchers have almost nowhere to turn for outs.

A Max Muncy double dip in the late innings

Truth be told, the Rockies’ outfield defense wasn’t doing their pitching staff any favors on Saturday evening, as they seemed to misplay numerous catchable balls in the outfield during the game, which resulted in some cheap hits from the Dodgers. But one person who was definitely not getting any cheap hits on the night was Max Muncy. He hit two absolute no-doubters in the final two innings of the ball game to drive in three more runs. Sandwiched in between the Muncy power display was a Justin Turner double in the eighth that scored two runs as well.

NL West race tightens…

It was a great night for the top three hitters in the Dodgers line-up, especially Betts and Muncy, who went a combined 8-9 with six RBI. If the Dodgers keep this up, it will only be a matter of time before they catch and pass the Giants. The Dodgers’ win on Saturday, combined with a San Francisco loss to St. Louis brings the Dodgers to within one game of the lead. Very possibly, we could have a tie atop the NL West going into the crucial series with the Giants that starts on Monday. But first, we have a bit more business to take care of here in the Rocky Mountains. David Price will be your starter on Sunday, taking the mound against Jon Gray. 12:10 pm first pitch.