The Los Angeles Dodgers won two of their first three games against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field after receiving stellar performances from the likes of Michael Grove, Bobby Miller, Ryan Pepiot and Emmet Sheehan.
After Caleb Ferguson retired just two batters in the first game of a split doubleheader on Tuesday, Pepiot entered as the bulk pitcher and went on to throw six innings of one-run ball with a career-high nine strikeouts. Grove followed him with 1.1 scoreless innings to close the game.
Then in the second matchup, Miller allowed two runs and collected a career-high nine strikeouts over seven innings of work. Sheehan kept it rolling for the Dodgers on Wednesday with another quality start that included a career-high 10 strikeouts.
Freddie Freeman praised the Dodgers rookies for finding success at a historically difficult ballpark to pitch in, per Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“It can be a little daunting as a young pitcher coming into this place,” Freeman said of the rookie pitchers. “Little bloops turn into doubles. Big innings can happen real fast. To see what Bobby and Michael and Emmet have done the last couple days it’s very, very impressive. I know a lot of older guys would like to miss Coors Field as much as you can. But to see our young guys step up, get themselves ready for the playoffs and pitching like they have been it’s huge.”
As Freeman noted, most pitchers hope to avoid making starts at the hitter-friendly Coors Field, which makes the rookies’ respective performances all the more impressive.
Grove, Miller, Pepiot and Sheehan combined to yield five runs on 18 hits with 30 strikeouts and one walk in 20.1 innings against the Rockies over the last two days — good for a 2.21 ERA and 0.93 WHIP.
Which Dodgers rookies will be part of postseason pitching staff?
With Miller a lock for the Dodgers postseason starting rotation and Pepiot likely earning a spot as well, Grove and Sheehan could be competing for one of the final openings in the bullpen.
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