The Los Angeles Dodgers lost Corey Seager after two innings due to a right hamstring cramp, but the team otherwise continued to distance themselves from the Colorado Rockies in the National League West standings.
Seager scored on Cody Bellinger’s sacrifice fly in the first inning, and hit an RBI single in the second. He grabbed at his hamstring while advancing to second base on a throw to home plate. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and a trainer checked on Seager, who momentarily remained in the game.
Seager scored on Justin Turner’s base hit but signaled to Roberts he could no longer continue playing and made his way to the clubhouse.
The domino effect included bringing in Yasiel Puig off the bench so he could take over in right field for Kiké Hernandez, who replaced Seager at shortstop.
Puig quickly made an impact, crushing a 445-foot solo home run to center field in the fourth inning. That extended the Dodgers’ lead to 5-1, which was more than enough for Alex Wood and the bullpen.
Wood scattered three hits over six innings, issued two walks and collected seven strikeouts. A pair of those came after the Rockies put the first two hitters of the game on base. Further evidence of Wood’s strong support even lies with the lone run the Rockies managed to score.
Trevor Story led off the second inning with a base hit and only scored because Franklin Gutierrez couldn’t cut off Tom Murphy’s single-turned-RBI double with one out. Wood’s 98 pitches were his most in 13 games (11 starts) this season. He improved to 8-0 with a 1.86 ERA and 0.92 WHIP.
Kenta Maeda, Brandon Morrow and Sergio Romo combined for three hitless innings. Logan Forsythe cashed in an Austin Barnes triple in the bottom of the eighth with a sacrifice fly that was the final run scored in the Dodgers’ 6-1 victory.
In addition to extending their season-best winning streak to eight games, Puig gave the Dodgers a 15th consecutive game with at least one home run. That tied the fourth-longest streak in franchise history.
For the Rockies, a third consecutive loss dropped them into third place in the NL West, though only one-half game back of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who were defeated by the Philadelphia Phillies.
