The Los Angeles Dodgers played a relatively clean game behind Kenta Maeda and it helped them earn a 10-5 win over the Colorado Rockies and series split at Coors Field. The Dodgers avoided losing consecutive series for the first time since early April.
Maeda retired the first seven batters faced before allowing a double to Tony Wolters in the third inning. Charlie Blackmon walked with two outs but Maeda escaped the jam and preserved the Dodgers’ 1-0 lead that he helped spark in the top half with a base hit.
With two on and nobody out in the fifth inning, Maeda’s sacrifice bunt drove in a run when Rockies starter Chi Chi Gonzalez committed a throwing error to first base. Joc Pederson’s RBI single, one of a game-high three hits on the day, extended the Dodgers’ lead to 3-0.
That was quickly wiped away, however, as the Rockies opened the bottom of the fifth inning with consecutive base hits to put runners at the corners. Maeda struck out Ian Desmond before giving way to Zac Rosscup.
The southpaw reliever needed just one out to get the Dodgers out of trouble, but failed to come up with. Blackmon’s RBI infield single got the Rockies on the board, and David Dahl’s three-run home run gave them a 4-3 advantage.
That too was short-lived, with the Dodgers loading the bases on three straight singles in the sixth inning. Justin Turner was hit by a pitch, tying the game, and Pederson’s two-run single gave the Dodgers a lead they never relinquished as they blew the game open.
Matt Beaty followed with an RBI double, Cody Bellinger plated a run on a force out, and Max Muncy pulled an RBI base hit into right field to cap off the six-run inning. Chris Taylor’s double in the eighth was cashed in by Bellinger on a ground ball that got by first base.
That came during a stretch in which Julio Urias logged three scoreless innings out of the bullpen. He punctuated it by striking out the side in the eighth and now has thrown 17 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.
