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After losing 12 straight games to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Colorado Rockies have now beaten them twice in a row thanks to a fantastic performance from starter Jon Gray and an offense that continues to produce against the best in the league, this time Clayton Kershaw.
The Dodgers took the lead in the first on a one-out single from Alex Verdugo and a two-out groundball double by Cody Bellinger just out of the reach of Mark Reynolds at first base.
Gray settled in for the next two and the Rockies took the lead in the third on Pat Valaika’s third hit in his last three at-bats and Charlie Blackmon’s 19th home run of the season.
The Bearded One waited back on a 2-2 breaking ball and turned on it, scorching one into the right-field bleachers to remain the hottest hitter in the National League and make it a 2-1 ballgame.
Los Angeles got one right back, though. Or, more accurately, the Rockies gave one back.
Justin Turner opened the next half-frame with a solid liner into right-center that Ian Desmond chased down but then completely whiffed on for a brutal two-base error.
Gray was close to escaping after he got Cody Bellinger to line out and struck out Max Muncy for the second time. But rookie Edwin Rios, getting the start for Chris Taylor, managed to line one into the opposite-field gap for a triple, the first hit of his MLB career.
At that, the game was tied at 2-2.
But Gray issued a leadoff walk in the fifth to the eight-hole hitter Austin Barnes and that came back to bite him, as it almost always does.
Kershaw moved him up with a sac bunt and Joc Pederson singled him in to put the Dodgers back on top.
Then Colorado hit with a signature counterpunch inning, plating three runs against the three-time Cy Young winner in the bottom of the sixth.
Blackmon reached, because getting him out is nearly impossible these days, on an error from Muncy who let one slip through his legs.
Raimel Tapia backed that up with a hard liner over the infield for a single and Nolan Arenado did the same, scoring Blackmon to tie it up.
The Rockies then caught a huge break when a hard grounder for Desmond that seemed likeliest to become a double play, skipped by Enrique Hernandez short for an oddly-scored single that loaded the bases with one away rather than ending the inning.
Mark Reynolds took advantage by singling away from the shift, bringing in Arenado and Tapia to give Colorado a 5-3 advantage.
Gray would have cruised through the seventh if not for a one-out single up the middle from Kershaw. He struck out Barnes and Pederson around that but surrendered a single to Verdugo prompting Bud Black to make a tough decision.
He went with young Jairo Diaz to take on Justin Turner and the fireballer they call “El Panda” came through with a huge strikeout to strand a pair.
For the second game in a row, Bryan Shaw had a very good outing working around a two-out single in an inning where he fanned two, including Bellinger.
With Scott Oberg unavailable after pitching in five of six games, Black turned back to Wade Davis for his first appearance since losing the regular closer job.
He struck out the first two before a slider ran too far in, plunking Pederson to bring the tying run to the plate. But he got Verdugo to roll one over to second to secure the save, the win, and at the very least a series split.
