Alex Wood was next in line to suffer what’s seemingly become the inevitable, as the Los Angeles Dodgers fell behind early and came up short in a 6-5 loss to the Colorado Rockies. The loss was the Dodgers’ ninth in a row, their worst in 25 years, and a 14th game dropped in their last 15 games.
Gerardo Parra led off the second inning with a double, which Trevor Story followed with a two-run home run to give the Rockies an early lead. Wood nearly managed to limit the damage, but Charlie Blackmon and Nolan Arenado each hit an RBI single.
Wood was left on deck in the bottom of the fourth, which led to him remaining in the game to pitch the fifth inning. After hitting into a force out, Parra scored from first base on Story’s double.
Wood threw 88 pitches, allowed five runs on eight hits, walked three and struck out two over five innings. It was his shortest outing since throwing 4.2 innings against the Atlanta Braves on July 21.
The Dodgers nearly mounted a comeback, sparked by a big fourth inning that was aided by Rockies misplays. First, Arenado uncharacteristically airmailed his throw to first base after fielding a routine grounder.
That put Chris Taylor on second base, and he eventually scored on Justin Turner’s single to center field. Cody Bellinger’s chopper up the first-base line kicked off Mark Reynolds’ glove and went for a double.
Arenado again was in the spotlight, as he failed to make a backhanded play at third base, resulting in a two-run double for Yasiel Puig. While Reynolds and Arenado were not charged with an error, Story was on a relatively routine grounder to shortstop.
Chad Bettis picked up his defense by retiring Joc Pederson to strand runners at the corners and preserve the Rockies’ lead. After Colorado scored against Wood in the top of the fifth, Andre Ethier provided a pinch-hit home run to lead off the bottom half of the inning.
Corey Seager singled and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch, but was stranded by Turner and Bellinger. In similar fashion to their loss on Friday night, the Dodgers failed to capitalize on various opportunities.
Forsythe doubled with two outs in the sixth, only to be stranded as Scott Oberg got Pederson swinging to strike out the side. Jake McGee stranded Bellinger after walking him with one out in the eighth.
Kenley Jansen allowed a pair of doubles, the second of which was because the ball popped out of Taylor’s glove on his diving catch attempt. The run loomed large as Forsythe led off the bottom of the ninth with a home run that would’ve tied the game.
Thanks to the San Diego Padres again defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers’ magic number to clinch the National League West was lowered, and now sits at 11.
