The Colorado Rockies came out swinging in their first game of this road trip against the Los Angeles Dodgers, taking an early lead and playing some solid baseball until the wheels came off the wagon in a bottom of the fourth that decided the game.
The visitors took the lead in the top of the first with back-to-back home runs in the spacious Dodger Stadium from Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon giving them 41 and 30 on the year, respectively.
The Rockies were able to manufacture another run in the top of the second thanks to the speed of Garrett Hampson. He pushed a bunt up the first base line to reach for a single and quickly stole second base. That made it a cinch for the speedster to race home on a Tony Wolters single to give the Rockies an early 3-0 lead.
The Dodgers got one back in the bottom of the second on a double from Cody Bellinger and an eventual sac fly off the bat of Chris Taylor.
Colorado responded with another highlight for Hampson who took Clayton Kershaw deep for his fifth home run this season; despite his relatively low power output, Hampson has taken both Kershaw and Max Scherzer deep this season.
The disastrous bottom of the fourth began with an omen in the form of a Corey Seager home run, his 17th of the year before starting pitcher Peter Lambert came unglued. He plunked Taylor, walked Gavin Lux, gave up a trio of singles to Will Smith, Enrique Hernandez, and Max Muncy before A.J. Pollock delivered the gut punch with a three-run blast to center field to put the Dodgers ahead 8-4.
The seven-run inning would come to a close once Bud Black went to Wes Parsons, but the game was out of reach even before Los Angeles put up another big frame in the seventh.
With Wade Davis on the mound, Taylor doubled to left and Lux singled. Smith lined out and Justin Turner walked in front of Hernandez who singled to left, scoring Lux and chasing Davis from the game having recorded only one out. Phillip Diehl came on and didn’t fare any better, surrendering a double to Muncy that scored two more before he was able to put away Pollock and Bellinger to end it.
For those who stayed up late to watch all 27 outs, rookie Sam Hilliard gave Rockies fans something good to feel about by hammering a solo blast, his fifth home run of the season after being called up just a few weeks ago.
That made the final score a 12-5 win for the Dodgers who clinched the division 10 days ago.
