Rockies finally beat Dodgers on crazy, history-making night at Coors Field

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Just about everything has been going the way of the Los Angeles Dodgers lately but for one brief moment, the clouds parted and the Colorado Rockies finally found a way to beat them.

We saw a little bit of everything on a crazy Friday night at Coors Field in the second of four between the Rockies and big bad boys in blue.

Some weird plays, some incredible plays, five errors between the two teams and a rain delay in a game that was 92 degrees at first pitch all colored one of the strangest contests in recent memory. It even included the worst hitter in baseball taking the best pitcher in baseball way deep in a clutch moment.

The teams combined to score 22 runs on 28 hits. Charlie Blackmon became the only player in MLB history with six consecutive three-hit games at home and the Rockies set a modern record by having eighth runs both scored and allowed in each of their last five home games.

Somehow, someway, the home nine managed to outlast their division rival for a 13-9 win with no ninth-inning dramatics.

The oddities started from the very beginning and never let up. Somehow, despite having to throw over 30 pitches in the first inning, Antonio Senzatela actually ended up outpitching Hyun-Jin Ryu.

That’s especially impressive when you consider Ryu has been the best pitcher in the National League so far in 2019, bringing a minuscule 1.27 ERA into the game.

The Rockies resilient offense was able to get after the presumed All-Star Game starter, though would have to wait to go to work.

From the get-go, it looked like it might be a long night for everyone involved.

With one out in the first, Alex Verdugo dropped a single just in front of Charlie Blackmon in right and Justin Turner added another one on a grounder between first and second.

Senzatela made his pitches to the Dodgers best and hottest hitters, Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy, getting weak grounders to the right side out of both. But Daniel Murphy made errors on both of them, throwing one into Turners back at second then bobbling an attempt to come home, allowing two runs to score.

Senzatela got another grounder out of Max Beaty, this one to short, but it was just enough into the hole that Colorado could not turn two.

Chris Taylor compounded all of that with yet another ground ball that found the right space on the right side, giving LA a 3-0 lead before Senza wasn’t finally able to escape with a strikeout of his counterpart.

The Rockies got right back in it with a counterpunch courtesy of a Blackmon single and Nolan Arenado’s 20th home run of the season, a laser line drive to left.

While Senzatela was able to get through the next two innings without much incident, the Dodgers struck again in the fourth, getting another weak groundball from Joc Pederson away from the shifted infield, rolling slowly into left for a double. Then Alex Verdugo hammered Senzatela’s first real mistake of the game over the wall in center to give Los Angeles a 5-2 lead.

The Rockies missed a chance to answer right back again, getting a leadoff double from Arenado in the bottom half of the fourth that was followed by a single from Daniel Murphy.

For the second time in the game, Chris Iannetta lined up Ryu and hit a screaming line drive right back up the middle but Max Muncy was right there in a shift and was able to leap into the air to make the catch. Predictably once that had occurred, Ryan McMahon then hit into an inning-ending double play.

But they did not miss out on their next opportunity, exploding for an eight-run fifth inning.

It began when Garrett Hampson worked a great at-bat and was able eventually to pull one down the line in left for a double.

Then, perhaps the most unlikely event of the season so far occurred. Pat Valaika, carrying an .054 batting average and 0-for-30 streak into the game, stepped up against the NL’s best pitcher thus far and blasted the first pitch he saw into the left-field bleachers.

Blackmon threw out another single – those seem to be automatic for him these days – and sprinted all the way around to score the tying run on a groundball double from Ian Desmond.

David Dahl then went up and got a fastball away from him and drove it over the wall in left to put Colorado back on top.

That chased Ryu from the game and things only got crazier from there. Arenado welcomed reliever Joe Kelly with his third extra-base hit of the game, a double into the oppo gap and Murphy reached on another single.

Chris Taylor also made a throwing error, allowing Arenado to score. Iannetta reached on a swinging bunt and Ryan McMahon reached on another error, this one from Justin Turner setting up Valaika for his second at-bat of the inning.

He hit a hard grounder between third and short that Taylor fielded but again unleashed a wild throw, allowing Iannetta to score. Blackmon added one more single to make it 10-5.

But of course, the Dodgers didn’t go away.

They worked two walks to begin the sixth against Carlos Estevez, though Statcast shows four of those pitches, including a 3-2 offering to Turner, as strikes.

He exhaled after Bellinger flew out to the warning track but had no such luck with Muncy who rocketed one into the upper deck for a three-run shot.

Bud Black went to Bryan Shaw who got out of the sixth and worked a rare-for-the-game 1-2-3 seventh.

After the aforementioned weather delay out of nowhere, Jake McGee took the mound clinging to a two-run lead in the eighth.

He got a quick out before Turner sent one into the gap for a double. He moved up on another warning track flyout from Bellinger before McGee got Muncy to roll over a weak grounder to first.

But for the third time in the game, Murphy committed an error, charging in too hard rather than waiting for the ball at the bag. Rather than the third out, LA got one more run to make it 10-9.

Colorado apparently took that as their cue to get a couple more runs and that’s just what they did in the top of the eighth. Blackmon opened with a walk and the bases were loaded on back-to-back singles from Desmond and Dahl. Arenado, who had four hits in the game, struck out but Murphy made sure the Rox got at least one with a sac fly to left.

Iannetta was then finally rewarded with some hard contact, going the other way with a double to plate another pair and make it 13-9.

Scott Oberg mercifully sat down the Dodgers in order in the ninth.