Rockies offense backs masterful performance from Gray in big win over Dodgers

It may not be enough to turn the entire season around, but the Colorado Rockies always feel good when they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers and can feel especially proud of the complete baseball game they played at Coors Field on Monday night.

Starter Jon Gray pitched his best game of the season. He went eight strong innings and did not give up a run until late and after his offense had jumped out to a big lead.

He was in attack mode and used the slider to particularly useful effect, getting some big punchouts with the pitch. Until the eighth, the only batter Gray allowed to reach second was Cody Bellinger after a couple of walks.

He was simply outstanding and Colorado’s offense did their part, battling early and rallying late for an impressive 9-1 win.

The Rockies took the lead in the second on a couple of hits from some speedsters.

Ian Desmond hit a hard-sinking liner to center field that handcuffed A.J. Pollock on a short-hop and got by him nearly to the wall, allowing Desi to race all the way around the bases for a triple.

Interestingly, the Dodgers elected to bring the infield in despite the fact that it was a scoreless game at Coors Field with several innings remaining. Raimel Tapia pulled a grounder through the right side anyway for an RBI single to give the Rockies a 1-0 lead.

There was little action on the base paths either way until the bottom of the fifth when the Rockies jumped all over Kenta Maeda, who entered the game with an astronomically low opponent batting average of .146 against right-handed hitters.

Tony Wolters got things going with a single through the shift and Gray worked a great at-bat trying to lay down a sac bunt; he was stingy on sliders that kept running off the plate until he drew a full-count walk. David Dahl drove in a run with a single to left-center and Trevor Story caught a break when Max Muncy dropped a ball behind second that might have been a double play, if fielded cleanly.

That loaded the bases for Nolan Arenado who singled over Muncy’s head to score two more. Daniel Murphy worked a walk and Ryan McMahon delivered a double to right field, driving in another pair of runs to make it five in the fifth and give Colorado a 6-0 lead.

Gray lost the shutout in the eighth when Will Smith led off with a double inside the line in left. He moved over and in thanks to consecutive ground outs to the first baseman Murphy. Gray struck out Muncy to end the inning and his excellent outing.

The Rockies added some insurance on a two-run homer for Dahl, his 15th of the year, and base hits from Arenado and Murphy to make it 9-1 before Wade Davis finished the game off in the ninth.