The rubber match between the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field featured two pitchers attempting to change their misfortunate to begin the season. Jordan Lyles and Alex Wood got off to drastically different starts, which spelled trouble for Colorado.
Lyles battled command issues in the top of the first, issuing three consecutive walks to load the bases with two outs. However, he managed to escape the jam thanks to an athletic play by Nolan Arenado on a Howie Kendrick dribbler up the third base line.
Wood opened the bottom half with back-to-back strikeouts of Brandon Barnes and Trevor Story. Carlos Gonzalez then grounded out to close out a quick inning for Wood. Lyles handed out his fourth free pass of the game as he issued a leadoff walk to Joc Pederson in the second.
Trayce Thompson followed with a double down the left field, putting runners on second and third with none out. Wood hit a soft grounder to shortstop, which resulted in Thompson getting thrown out on his attempt to advance to third base, but Pederson also scored on the play to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.
Story was unable to cleanly field a Chase Utley grounder and his error kept the inning alive for the Dodgers. Corey Seager then drew a walk to load the bases a second time in as many innings. Whereas the Dodgers came away empty the first time, Yasiel Puig ensured that wouldn’t repeat.
His two-run double pushed the lead to 3-0. Another run came across on Adrian Gonzalez’s RBI groundout before Lyles could get out of the inning. The Rockies responded in their half of the inning, starting with a Nolan Arenado leadoff walk.
He moved into scoring position on a wild pitch and later scored on Gerardo Parra’s RBI single up the middle. The Dodgers offense tacked on some more support for Wood in the top half of the third inning.
CONTINUE READING: Dodgers answer Rockies’ five-run eighth inning with five-run ninth
With one out, Pederson clubbed his third home run of the season, increasing the lead to 5-1. Wood followed with a deep single off the right field wall, and Utley hit a single. That would be it for Lyles, as Rockies manager Walt Weiss pulled the starter after just 2.2 innings.
Chris Rusin replaced Lyles and promptly gave up a two-run double to Seager. Wood continued his positive outing by retiring the Rockies in order for the second time of the game in the bottom half of the third inning, but hit a rough patch in the fourth.
After Carlos Gonzalez led off the fourth with an infield single, Wood managed to collect two consecutive outs. However, Parra then hit an RBI double to cut the Dodgers’ lead to 7-2. Parra’s hit was a relatively routine fly ball that Thompson badly misjudged and overran.
DJ LeMahieu kept the inning alive with a walk, which paid off. Dustin Garneau beat the shift with an RBI single up the middle, and Howie Kendrick couldn’t make a play on Rusin’s bunt, resulting in another run scoring.
Puig prevented more damage from being done by tracking down a Barnes fly ball to make a catch while crashing into the right field fence. Wood ran into more trouble in the sixth, issuing a leadoff walk to Mark Reynolds and allowing him to move into scoring position on a wild pitch.
Parra’s infield single put runners on the corners and knocked Wood out of the game. Pedro Baez wasn’t able to field a bunt, allowing one run to come across. After the Rockies executed a double steal, Garneau walked to load the bases.
Baez worked out of the jam by striking out pinch-hitter Ben Paulsen, and getting Barnes and Story to fly out to right. Adam Liberatore issued a one-out walk and allowed a base hit, but got out of the seventh inning unscathed and with the Dodgers still leading, 7-5.
Chris Hatcher entered in the eighth and promptly gave up a double and RBI single. Hatcher was then replaced by Luis Avilan after walking Story on four pitches. Carlos Gonzalez pulled Avilan’s first pitch into right field for an RBI single.
Puig overran the ball, letting a second run come across to give the Rockies an 8-7 lead. With Arenado intentionally walked and Reynolds drawing a walk, Parra came up to bat with the bases loaded and lined a two-run single to center.
Joe Blanton replaced Avilan, and needed one pitch to start an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play. Adrian Gonzalez led off the ninth with a base hit, but was erased at second on a Yasmani Grandal grounder. Kendrick’s single to right put runners on the corners with one out. Kiké Hernandez, representing the tying run, pinch-hit for Joc Pederson with the left-handed Jake McGee on the mound.
McGee walked Hernandez to load the bases. Thompson grounded to Story, who bobbled the ball before getting it to second base for a force out. A.J. Ellis pinch-hit for Blanton and connected for an RBI single, cutting the Rockies’ lead to 10-9.
Charlie Culberson entered as a pinch-runner for Ellis and advanced to second base on a McGee wild pitch that also allowed the tying run to come across. Utley continued with his strong season by hitting a go-ahead double.
Seager added an RBI double of his own, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 12-10 and chasing the Rockies’ closer. Kenley Jansen came on in the bottom of the ninth and worked around a leadoff walk to earn his second save in as many games.