Even if only for an afternoon the Los Angeles Dodgers quieted some of the concern over their prolonged struggle against left-handed pitching. Kenta Maeda turned in five innings, and Los Angeles avoided being swept by the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
Fresh off his first day of rest this season, Logan Forsythe led off the first inning with a booming double to center field. Tyler Anderson walked Corey Seager, then gave up a two-run double to Justin Turner.
Maeda was sharp in the bottom of the first, retiring the Rockies in order and ending the inning by striking out Carlos Gonzalez. Forsythe kept the inning alive in the second by working a two-out walk, which was followed by a Seager two-run homer.
Maeda bookended a 1-2-3 bottom of the second with strikeouts, and struck out Alexi Amarista to start the third. However, the right-hander then lost his perfect game on a Tony Wolters flare single into left-center field.
Two batters later, Charlie Blackmon jumped on a first-pitch curveball for a home run that cut the Dodgers’ lead in half. After opening the fourth with a walk, Kiké Hernandez was moved into scoring position on a Maeda sacrifice bunt.
Forsythe later scored Hernandez on an opposite-field base hit to extend the Dodgers’ lead to 5-2. Maeda picked up his fifth strikeout of the game and worked around a Forsythe two-out error to toss a scoreless fourth inning.
Franklin Gutierrez, signed to offset the Dodgers’ struggles against left-handed pitching, was stranded after doubling in the fifth. Anderson ended the inning by striking out Yasiel Puig and Adrian Gonzalez.
With Wolters on first base via a leadoff walk, Blackmon snuck a broken-bat single into right field, putting runners at the corners with one out. Parra connected for an RBI single and Carlos Gonzalez plated another run on a sacrifice fly before Maeda could get through the inning.
Maeda retiring Nolan Arenado was key as he hit third in the sixth. Austin Barnes’ first hit of the season was a one-out, wind-aided triple that banged off the right field fence. Alexi Amarista made a terrific diving stop on a bullet hit by Andrew Toles, but couldn’t complete the play.
Josh Fields walked Trevor Story to start the bottom of the sixth, struck out Mark Reynolds and then gave way to Luis Avilan. The left-hander retired Amarista and Wolters to keep the Dodgers’ 6-4 lead intact.
A Seager base hit, wild pitch, Turner walk, and passed ball put runners at second and third with nobody out in the seventh. Jordan Lyles nearly escaped the jam, as Seager was thrown out at home plate on a contact play, and Puig struck out on three pitches.
But Wolters’ gamble to throw Turner out at third base backfired, as the ball ricocheted off Turner’s back, and he scampered home to score. Adrian Gonzalez lined an RBI single into left field and he then scored on Joc Pederson’s base hit.
Forsythe and Turner both singled in the eighth inning but it didn’t amount to anything. Scott Van Slyke padded the lead with a pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth.
After Fields and Avilan, Sergio Romo tossed a scoreless eighth inning. However, Kenley Jansen was a victim of the swirling wind at Coors Field, as a fly ball carried for an RBI double. The run scored snapped the scoreless streak the Dodgers bullpen had brewing since Tuesday at 16.2 innings.
With their 10-6 win, the Dodgers avoided their first series sweep since losing all three games to the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park to close out the 2016 season. Los Angeles was last swept by the Rockies in a three-game series at Coors Field in September 2015.
