Everything goes wrong for Rockies in huge loss to Dodgers

LOS ANGELES – The only solace the Colorado Rockies can take away from their contest against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night at Chavez Ravine is that, despite the incredibly lopsided score, this game only counted as one in the standings.

In the first of three, in one of the most important series of the 2018 season, absolutely nothing went right for the Rockies. Starter Jon Gray could not get out of the third inning, the offense was non-existent, Trevor Story had to leave the game with a wrist issue (more details as they emerge) and not even the bullpen could settle the game down as the Dodgers ran away with it by a score of 8-2.

Things got off to a rough start, as they so often do, for Gray who surrendered a home run to Joc Pederson in his first encounter of the game. It wasn’t a terribly located fastball away but it was up and Pederson was able to lift it beyond the wall in left.

Gray responded by getting a pair of outs from Justin Turner and Manny Machado but he lost Max Muncy, issuing a free pass to keep the inning alive. Yasiel Puig followed up with a single to center that moved Muncy to third. Then Gray unleashed a wild pitch to Cody Bellinger, handing out another walk that also happened to let a run score, but Gray caught a break when catcher Drew Butera was able to corral the baseball and throw Puig out at third to end the inning.

But things really fell apart for Gray in the third. Pederson started things off again this time with a ground ball double to right field. Turner singled in the next at-bat to put runners at the corner with nobody out. Machado then hit a little blooper into center field that it looked like either Trevor Story or Charlie Blackmon might have a play on, but neither was able to get to the baseball as it fell into no-mans-land.

That scored a third run, but felt like an afterthought when Max Muncy leaned on a hanging breaking ball right in the middle of the plate and blasted it into the right-center field bleachers for a no-doubt home run, his 33rd round-tripper of the season. When Puig followed that up with a single up the middle, manager Bud Black had seen enough, going out to get Gray before he had recorded a single out in the third.

Black turned to Harrison Musgrave who did give up a single to Cody Bellinger but settled down to retire the next three in order and restore some sanity to the proceedings.

Somehow, though, things got worse for Colorado in the top of the fourth when Story had to be removed from the game dealing with a wrist injury.

The Dodgers got right back to scoring in the bottom of that inning when Musgrave managed to add another high frustration play to the game, walking the pitcher Hyung-Jin Ryu to lead things off. That set the stage for Pederson to obliterate his second homer and third hit of the game, an emphatic shot that put LA up 8-0.

The Rockies finally did get on the board, making sure they would not be shut out for the third time in four games, plating a pair of runs in the eighth.

After a Carlos Gonzalez line out, Drew Butera drew a walk and pinch-hitter Garret Hampson was plunked. Raimel Tapia flied out to left but DJ LeMahieu came up with a two-out single to center, scoring Butera. Nolan Arenado backed that up with a broken-bat single to center, scoring another run, but in a head-scratching decision, LeMahieu tried to get an extra base out of the situation and was thrown out by a mile, making the third out at third base, ending the rally.

Sam Howard loaded the bases in the eighth but managed to escape without allowing any further damage.

But the Rockies could not mount their biggest comeback win of the season, falling to 82-68 and a half-game behind these Dodgers for first place in the NL West.

Final Stats:

Jon Gray: 2 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

Harrison Musgrave: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

DJ Johnson: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

Bryan Shaw: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

What’s Next:

The Rockies try to bounce back and find something resembling some offensive momentum against one of the best pitchers in a generation, Clayton Kershaw. To their fortune, they will match with Cy Young candidate Kyle Freeland. First pitch at 8:10 Mountain Time.