The Los Angeles Dodgers slugged three home runs and throttled the Colorado Rockies, 8-2, to move into first place in the National League West standings by a half game. They were led by a pair of home runs and three RBI from Joc Pederson.
Pederson helped the Dodgers send an early message by leading off the bottom of the first inning with a homer. It was Pederson’s ninth such home run of his career, and sixth of which has come this season.
While the rout was well underway, Pederson further blew the game open in the fourth inning by tomahawking an eye-level fastball for a two-run homer that extended the Dodgers’ lead to 8-0. It was his first long ball against a lefty this season and gave Pederson an eighth career multi-home run game.
Between his pair of blasts was Max Muncy landing what was for all intents and purposes a knockout punch on Rockies starter Jon Gray. He failed to retire any of the five batters faced in the third inning; the fourth being Muncy who crushed a three-run home run to right-center field.
As the Dodgers were slugging their way to a key win, Hyun-Jin Ryu bounced back from a subpar outing. He retired eight of the first nine batters faced, with the only hit coming to Nolan Arenao on a soft two-out single in the first inning.
Charlie Blackmon was the Rockies’ first baserunner to reach scoring position but he was stranded after hitting a double in the third. Matt Holliday’s single in the fourth inning was the Rockies’ third two-out hit of the night that again didn’t amount to anything.
Ryu allowed just four hits over seven shutout innings, collecting five strikeouts without issuing any walks. It was the third time this season the left-hander got through seven frames.
Alex Wood made his first relief appearance since Game 7 of the 2017 World Series and first in the regular season since April 2017. He issued a walk and hit a batter, which led to the Rockies avoiding a shutout as DJ LeMahieu lined a two-out RBI single into center field.
John Axford, fresh off the 10-day disabled list, relieved Wood and promptly allowed an RBI base hit to Nolan Arenado. While it drove in Colorado’s second run they also ran themselves out of the inning as LeMahieu was thrown out at third base.
Yimi Garcia, another who returned Monday, retired two of three batters faced in the ninth. He then handed the ball to Tony Cingrani who recorded the final out of the game in his first appearance since June 6.
