Hits were few and far between for much of Wednesday night, with Yasiel Puig accounting for two of the six hits the Los Angeles Dodgers finished with in a 3-0 win over the Colorado Rockies. It gave the Dodgers back-to-back series victories for only a second time this season and pulled them to within 3.5 games back of first place in the National League West.
Coming off a dominant start against the Miami Marlins in which he logged eight shutout innings, Kenta Maeda was masterful over 6.2 innings. He had a no-hitter working until Ian Desmond’s one-out single in the fifth.
Prior to that and dating back to his previous outing, Maeda had gone 10 innings without allowing a hit. Batters were 0-for-29 with two walks during that stretch.
Maeda exited Wednesday night after throwing a career-high 111 pitches and recording 12 strikeouts, which was one shy of tying his career-best mark. Pedro Baez stranded Chris Iannetta at first base to ensure a run didn’t wind up on Maeda’s ledger.
And with that, it marked the first time in Maeda’s career he produced back-to-back scoreless starts.
While Maeda was in the early stages of his gem, the Dodgers didn’t manage their first baserunner against Rockies starter Kyle Freeland until Puig’s leadoff single in the bottom of the third. A sacrifice bunt moved him into scoring position, and Chris Taylor was hit by a pitch but both were stranded.
Justin Turner’s leadoff single in the fourth led to a different result, however. After a one-out base hit by Kiké Hernandez, Logan Forsythe’s ground-rule double broke a scoreless tie. Forsythe then kept a rundown alive long enough for a run to score and Puig to reach second base on the fielder’s choice.
Taylor’s walk and Turner’s base hit put runners on the corners with one out in the fifth for Matt Kemp, who delivered a productive out with a sacrifice fly that extended the Dodgers’ lead to a decided 3-0.
After Baez, Scott Alexander and Kenley Jansen combined for two shutout innings to wrap up the Dodgers’ sixth win in their past seven games.
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