The Los Angeles Dodgers returned from an impressive road trip for a Memorial Day matchup against the lowly Colorado Rockies.
Despite the Rockies’ woes this season, they managed to earn a split of their-game series against the Dodgers at Coors Field from April 17-20 and put up a formidable effort Monday night.
Since 2017, the Dodgers are now 7-1 on Memorial Day thanks to their 18th comeback win of the season. They did not play on the holiday during the 2020 season (COVID) or 2024 (postponed due to rain).
Dodgers 5, Rockies 3: key takeaways
Is Emmet Sheehan injured?
In addition to his fastball velocity being diminished like in most other starts this season, Sheehan twice was checked on by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and head athletic trainer Thomas Albert during the fourth inning.
The first mound visit stemmed from Sheehan being hit by a line drive in the back of his right shoulder. Sheehan threw several warmup pitches and assured Roberts and Albert he could remain in the game. As the Rockies rallied to take a 2-1 lead, Roberts and Albert went out to speak with Sheehan for a second time.
He once more convinced them of being able to remain in the game and managed to get through the inning without issue. Sheehan continued to pitch and got through six innings in one of his better outings this season. He allowed just the two runs and finished with eight strikeouts.
Dodgers overcome RISP hitting
Fresh off the 60-day injured list, Kiké Hernández made an immediate impact by hitting an RBI double in his first at-bat. That was the lone run the Dodgers mustered off Rockies starter Tanner Gordon despite their six hits and one walk in his five innings pitched.
The Dodgers left five on base and were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position against Gordon.
They managed to load the bases with nobody out in the seventh inning behind two walks and a hit batter, and manufactured enough offense thanks to Shohei Ohtani beating a would-be double play and Mookie Betts’ sacrifice fly tying the game.
Freddie Freeman then put L.A. ahead with an RBI double off the wall in right field. Andy Pages provided some insurance with a two-out RBI single. That gave Pages 47 RBI on the season, which is tied with C.J. Abrams for the MLB lead.
Bullpen scoreless inning streak snapped
Dodgers relief pitchers entered the night with a scoreless streak of 38 consecutive innings for the bullpen. It immediately was snapped when Kyle Hurt surrendered a leadoff homer in the seventh inning.
Hurt personally had his streak of 14 consecutive scoreless innings snapped by the home run.
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