The Los Angeles Dodgers again tapped into their late-inning magic to come from behind for a 10-6 victory against the Colorado Rockies. The Dodgers tied the best 40-game start in franchise history, having also opened a season 30-10 in 1888, 1955 and 1977.
L.A. also extended their winning streak to six games and they’ve rattled off 11 in a row at Dodger Stadium.
In his first start since the trade deadline — which saw Ross Stripling sent to the Toronto Blue Jays — Dustin May demonstrated why the organization felt comfortable in their starting pitching depth heading into October.
Even with the two solo shots allowed, May got through 5.2 innings and finished with five strikeouts. He’s allowed two runs or fewer in each of his eight starts this season. On Friday, May’s fastball had its usual life and there were more encouraging results with the breaking ball.
That wasn’t immediately evident as May’s third pitch was crushed by Raimel Tapia into the pavilion in right-center field. It was Tapia’s first career leadoff home run and the first for the Rockies this season.
Tapia joined Trevor Story, Dexter Fowler, Eric Young Jr. and Eric Young Sr. as Rockies players to hit a leadoff homer at Dodger Stadium.
May later issued a walk but followed it with a strikeout to escape the first inning. He also gave up a leadoff single to Daniel Murphy but followed that by retiring the next 10 batters faced.
The streak was snapped by Sam Hilliard’s solo home run that broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning. It was Hilliard’s fifth homer in nine career games at Dodger Stadium.
Through five innings all the Dodgers had to show for offense was Max Muncy’s solo home run in the bottom of the first. Mookie Betts then began their comeback effort with a leadoff single in the sixth and he alertly took second base on Kevin Pillar’s fielding error.
That proved key as Corey Seager followed with a game-tying RBI single. Will Smith hit a two-run homer in the seventh and Seager’s sacrifice fly extended the Dodgers’ lead to 5-2.
But it all came crashing down in the eighth inning. Brusdar Graterol hit a batter and later issued a walk, exiting with two on and two outs. Caleb Ferguson was the victim of a Charlie Blackmon pop-up dropping for an infield single, which led to Kevin Pillar’s grand slam.
The back-and-forth affair carried into the bottom of the eighth inning, when AJ Pollock clubbed what held as a game-winning two-run home run. Joc Pederson made it back-to-back blasts, snapping an 0-for-15 skid with his sixth homer, and Betts tacked on a two-run home run of his own.
For Pollock, it marked a second consecutive game with a home run.
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