Steve Webb
DENVER, CO — Ho hum. Another night, another spectacular start from a rookie pitcher. After Ryan Pepiot and Bobby Miller dazzled in their appearances on Tuesday, it was Emmet Sheehan‘s turn to be great on Wednesday night in Coors Field. The Dodger righty was in total command in this one, striking out ten batters in six innings of work while needing just 84 pitches to do it. Meanwhile, the bottom third of the Dodgers of the batting order came to play, getting on base ten times as the visitors jumped all over Rockie pitching to the tune of an 8-2 victory.
So many good things happened in this one that it is hard to know where to begin. But a good place to start would be Emmet Sheehan’s stellar outing. As has been the case so many times lately, Sheehan had his mix of pitches working to perfection on Wednesday night. If not for a couple of solo home runs from outfielder Sean Brouchard and second baseman Brendan Rodgers, it would have been a perfect night for the Dodger rookie. His ten strikeouts is a new career-high and it’s hard to believe that this guys is still only a handful of games into his big-league career. They grow up so fast!
“It can be daunting as a young pitcher coming to this place,” said Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman. “A little bloop could turn into a double, big innings can happen real fast. But to see what Bobby, Mike and Emmet have done the last couple of days is very, very impressive.”
In addition to the great start from Sheehan, the Dodgers got more than enough offense from James Outman, David Peralta, and Miguel Rojas, the 7-8-9 hitters in the batting order. Outman got the scoring started with a solo homer in the second, and ended up going 3-for-4 with a couple of runs scored. Peralta had a pair of doubles and an RBI. And Miguel Rojas had a 3-for-4 night with a ribeye of his own.
Not one to let the bottom of the lineup outshine him, Freddie Freeman came late to the party, hitting a three-run bomb off reliever Justin Lawrence. It was the 28th dinger of the season for Freeman and his 101st RBI, so his having a 30 HR, 60 2B, 100 RBI season is definitely in play going into the final weekend of the season. Which would be insane.
As for the Dodgers playoff seeding, it’s finally set. With Atlanta’s win on Wednesday, they are locked into the Number 2 spot, which is not a bad thing: playoff bye, and no prospect of playing the Phillies in the NLDS. Instead, it will more than likely be either Arizona, Milwaukee, or the Cubs.
“I do know we’re locked in the No. 2 seed, we’re gonna open the Division Series at home next Saturday,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “We don’t know who we’re playing, but I just want us to play good baseball.”
The Dodgers wrap up the series with the Rockies on Thursday, with another 5:40 PDT start time. This time, boringly enough, Dave Roberts is gonna start somebody with actual experience on the mound. Imagine that! It will be veteran Ryan Yarbrough doing a bit of a spot start to finish out the series, and then it’s on to San Francisco to knock around the Giants a bit for fun before getting our game faces on for October. Two more wins to 100. Let’s do this!
