LOS ANGELES, CA — The Dodgers were aiming for a sweep Wednesday night against the Colorado Rockies to put more distance between them and the Padres in this tight NL West Division race. They sent out Blake Snell, who has lost his last three games, giving up a total of ten earned runs. The Dodgers had faced two starters in this series before Wednesday: Chase Dollander, 2-12, 6.52 ERA, and Germán Márquez, San Felix, Venezuela, 3-13, 6.32 ERA. Then on Wednesday, the Rockies sent out Kyle Freeland, 4-14, 5.10 ERA.
Three starting pitchers for Colorado who had a combined record of 9-39 this season, with an ERA of 5.98.
Colorado LHP Kyle Freeland had a 4-14 record and 5.10 ERA prior to Wednesday’s 9-0 loss to the Dodgers – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
After going into a lull over the past few weeks, the 40-105 Rockies are just what the doctor ordered for the 2024 World Series Champions to get back on track. The Dodgers scored first in the bottom half of the second inning when leadoff hitter Tommy Edman, returning from the IL, reached on an error, followed by a sharp single off the bat of Miguel Rojas, Los Teques, Venezuela.
Next came a line drive double in the left-center field gap by Andy Pages, Havana, Cuba, that scored Edman. Rojas would score on a sacrifice fly by Kiké Hernández, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Pages would score on a sharp single by Shohei Ohtani, who would score all the way from first base on a long double off the hot bat of Mookie Betts—making it 4-0 LA after two innings. Three of the four runs were unearned.
Mookie Betts can do it all on the diamond, showing his versatility on a day-to-day basis – Image Credit: Emma Sharon/Latino Sports
And what about Snell? All he did was pitch like a two-time Cy Young Award winner—leaving with an outstanding line of six innings pitched, two hits, zero runs, two walks, and eleven strikeouts. The 37th time in his career, he struck out more than ten batters in a game. Simply amazing for a pitcher who has only averaged 5.2 innings per game in his career.
Also behind Snell, Betts made several plays at shortstop that showed why he is a future Hall of Fame player. He has to be the most versatile player in baseball. Not only can he play multiple positions, but he plays them at a Gold Glove Award level.
Oh, and by the way, Betts also went 4-5, which included two singles, a double, and a grand slam home run to give him five RBI on the night and put the game out of reach for Colorado.
The next batter, 2024 National League LatinoMVP runner-up Teoscar Hernández, Cotui, Dominican Republic, then hit a 445-foot monster shot into the left-field pavilion, his third home run in the past two games, to make it 9-0 Dodgers.
With this three-game sweep of the Rockies and another loss by the Padres, the Dodgers find themselves in first place, three games ahead of San Diego.
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