Failures on the mound and at the plate lead to another heartbreaker for Dodgers

LOS ANGELES — According to FanGraphs, if a team has the bases loaded with nobody out, they have a run expectancy of 2.28 runs. Trailing by one, the Dodgers had exactly that situation on Friday in the bottom of the ninth, but considerably underperformed only getting one run to tie the ball game. Then, they went on to lose in extra innings because of course they did. On another night where victory was within the Dodgers’ grasp, they instead leave the ball park with a 9-6 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

Dodgers get three in the first

Things started out promisingly enough on Friday night. In the bottom of the first, the Dodgers were all over Rockies starter Chi Chi Gonzalez. Chris Taylor continued his hot streak leading off the inning with a double. After new Dodger Billy McKinney moved him to third with an infield grounder, Justin Turner popped out for the second out of the inning. But the Dodgers did what they’ve been doing all year with two outs: come up with clutch hits.

First, Will Smith doubled Taylor home for the Dodgers’ first run of the game. Cody Bellinger then broke a very cold streak with a run-scoring double of his own, and then after AJ Pollock walked, Matt Beaty was able to drive in Bellinger with a single. Bingo, bango, bongo, and it was 3-0 Dodgers after one inning.

Price on the money for the Dodgers

Staked to an early lead, Dodgers starter David Price turned in one of his best performances of the year. Pitching efficiently and hitting his spots all night, Price came within one out of going through six complete innings. He gave up solo home runs to Elias Diaz in the third and Trevor Story in the sixth, but exited the game with the Dodgers up 4-2. He issued a walk before leaving the mound that came around to score off reliever Phil Bickford, so his line for the night is more inflated than it should be: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 4 K.

Dodgers answer back in the middle innings

After the Rockies scored each of their runs, the Dodgers answered back quickly. In the bottom of the third, Justin Turner quickly erased Diaz’s home run with a solo shot of his own when he took a 86-mile-an-hour slider deep over the right center field fence, depositing it into souvenir land.

Then, in the sixth inning, same story. After the Rockies scored in the top of the inning, the Dodgers responded immediately in the bottom of the frame. This time, Cody Bellinger jacked a ball to right that missed being a home run by just inches. Bouncing off the top of the wall, the ball caromed away from Charlie Blackmon a bit and allowed the speedy Bellinger to cruise into third with a triple. He easily scored on AJ Pollock’s single and the Dodgers lead was extended to 5-3

Belli looks great, then exits early

More should be said about Belli right here. After being so dreadful since coming back from the IL (his batting average had dipped to .152 at game time), he seemed to have it all working for him on Friday, getting two solid hits. Even his lineout in the third inning was smoked. But unfortunately, he had to be pulled from the game after the triple after aggravating the hamstring issue that put him out of service earlier this year. “He’s going to be down tomorrow,” manager Dave Roberts said following the game. “I like to think we got ahead of it. Same hamstring as before. He’ll be down tomorrow and hopefully come Sunday he’ll be back in there, but he’s day to day.”

With Bellinger out of the lineup, Betts still nursing an injury, and Max Muncy in Arizona on paternity leave (baby girl born on Saturday!), the Dodgers were looking more and more like a split-squad team in a Spring Training game at Camelback Ranch. The only regulars left in the lineup after Bellinger’s exit were Justin Turner, Chris Taylor, AJ Pollock, and Will Smith. That lack of bats would come back to haunt the Dodgers later in the game.

Bullpen gives up the lead

Meanwhile, the Rockies were able to get off the mat and crawl back into the game off the Dodgers’ bullpen. However, it wasn’t the usual suspects on Friday. In fact, not a single relief pitcher used in the game was even on the Dodgers’ opening day roster at the beginning of the season. First man out of the pen, Phil Bickford, did okay, but allowed a baserunner inherited from David Price to score on a Ryan McMahon single. Then, after Alex Vesia pitched a clean seventh inning, Brusdar Graterol came on in the eighth. And the Bazooka was still clocking triple digits with the heater, but it was getting hit by the Rockies. He got dinged for a couple of runs and only recorded two outs in the inning.

With the game now tied at five, Darien Nunez came in to clean up Graterol’s mess in the bottom of the eighth. He was able to do so, but couldn’t hold the tie in the ninth. Rockies pinch hitter Sam Hilliard, who has been up and down between Denver and triple-A all year, came to the plate hitting a measly .130. None of that seemed to matter on Friday as he absolutely crushed a Nunez changeup for a monster home run to right. It was now 6-5 Rockies, and the Dodgers had only three outs to work with.

Dodgers tie in the ninth, but leave the bases loaded

The bottom of the ninth started out as promisingly as could be imagined. Pinch hitter Austin Barnes continued to deliver off the bench, contributing a single up the middle to the cause to lead off the inning. Chris Taylor worked a nice at-bat for a single of his own. Then, Rockies’ closer Daniel Bard seemed to lose the strike zone. He uncorked a wild pitch to move the runners up ninety feet, and then he walked Billy McKinney to load up the bases for Justin Turner. JT got a couple pitches to hit in the AB, but in the end to a walk that sent home the game-tying run.

It looked like the Dodgers’ run of bad luck might be turning. Nobody out, and three shots to get the tying run home from third. Plus, two of those three hitters were the red-hot Smith and Pollock. There ought to be a way to scratch at least one home in this situation, right?

Actually, no. Smith struck out on three pitches. Sheldon Neuse struck out on four. And then, Bard sent AJ Pollock back to the dugout with mix of sliders and four-seamers. The inning was over and the game was still tied. Chris Taylor had been camped at third with the winning run for what seemed like a half an hour, never moving and never to come home.

Another tenth inning disaster

This then brought up the two words Dodger fans fear the most this year: extra innings. And suffice to say, it was another disaster. The Rockies got three in their half of the inning off reliever Jimmy Sherfy. First, they scored the designated runner on a Trevor Story single and then, Charlie Blackmon blasted a two-run homer to put the game on ice for the Rox. It was the second time in a week that Blackmon has homered late off the Dodgers’ pen, as he walked it off back in Colorado on Sunday.

The Dodgers went very quietly in the bottom of the tenth and the game was over. Some definite bad mojo hovering over the Ravine right now. And with the Giants losing to the lowly Pirates on Saturday, they lost not only the game but a chance to move up in the standings before the critical series against the Giants next week. The Dodgers will lace them up again on Saturday night against these same Rockies. Tony Gonsolin will try to right the ship against Kyle Freeland. 6:10 game time. Come to the stadium and cheer your Oklahoma City Dodgers to victory!