Dodgers walk-off on Rockies who fail to find clutch hit

Los Angeles — Trayce Thompson hit a walk-off home run for the Los Angeles Dodgers that barely cleared the left-field fence with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, halting the Colorado Rockies comeback and securing a 4-3 victory in the second game of the series.

Rockies’ starter Eddie Butler got off to an abhorrent start, allowing the first five batters he faced to reach base, including two walks and a home run (Justin Turner) to start the game and immediately put the Rockies in a 3-0 deficit. Remarkably, especially considering this also all came on the heels of his last outing which saw him dinged for eight runs, Butler settled down … like way down.

The confounding young starter got the double-play ball working and would only allow a handful of baserunners over the last five innings of his outing. Jorge De La Rosa was warming up before Butler secured his first out, The Radford Redhead finished with six innings pitched, giving up three runs on four hits, walking four and striking out four. It was his third consecutive Quality Start on the road.

The Rockies offense certainly didn’t go silent, outhitting the Dodgers 9-to-5 but they couldn’t get the big hit with runners in scoring position, leaving 10 men on base in the game. This hurt the most in the fifth when the Rockies loaded the bases with just one out and Nolan Arenado then Carlos Gonzalez due up. Arenado popped out on the infield and Gonzalez struck out, ending the threat. It was an inning that has symbolized the Rockies struggles as of late. When one thing is going well, the other thing is not and although both players have been excellent this season for the Rockies, neither could deliver in this clutch situation against a division rival.

Arenado does get a little slack for having driven in a run earlier in the game on his 11th double of the season. The Rockies second run came from a surprising pinch-hit home run off the bat of Daniel Descalso. It was Descalso’s first of the year. The Rox were finally able to manufacture a run in the seventh with a little help from a throwing error, tying the game on an infield single from Gonzalez.

DJ LeMahieu and Ryan Raburn each had two-hit days and Charlie Blackmon, who was entered into the game late, went 0-for-1 ending his 32-game on-base streak.

Lasting Impact

Anytime you fight back against a good team like that to give yourself a shot on the road, it’s typically a very good sign regardless of the result. But the Rockies have been mired in a funk for a while now and are sick of looking for good signs. This game is a tough pill to swallow because winning it could have done much to quell the frustration of the losing streak and inspire confidence that the team was about to take off in the other direction. They arguably outplayed the Dodgers and yet still came away with the divisional loss. No doubt about it, this one stings.

What’s Next

The final game of the series and of the road trip starts tomorrow, Wednesday, June 8 at 8:10 MST. Chris Rusin takes the hill against Kenta Maeda.