For the second consecutive game, the Los Angeles Dodgers blew a late lead against the Colorado Rockies. But instead of coming back to earn the win as they did on Monday, the Dodgers dropped the second game of the series.
They now look to take the three-game series with a win on Wednesday night.
Rockies 4, Dodgers 3: key takeaways
Dodgers defense costs them late
Will Klein took over in the eighth inning with a 3-1 lead and walked the first batter he faced before allowing a one-out single. Klein then recorded a ground ball that should have been a double play to get them out of the inning, but it was booted by Miguel Rojas, which allowed a run to score and put runners at the corners.
The Dodgers turned to Jack Dreyer, and Jake McCarthy laid down a sacrifice bunt. That allowed the tying run to score, and the Dodgers got the out at first.
However, Alex Freeland, who was covering the first base bag, made a throwing error to Miguel Rojas covering third base. The ball got away and rolled into the dugout, allowing the go-ahead run to score.
It was the Dodgers’ first multi-error inning of the year, and it cost them what should have been their 61st victory of the season.
The Dodgers put the tying and winning runs on base with no outs in the ninth with the top of their lineup coming up, but they were unable to bring the runs home.
Justin Wrobleski looks like an All-Star
Although Justin Wrobleski was still not named to the National League All-Star team after three pitching replacements from MLB earlier in the day, he turned in another All-Star-worthy outing.
Wrobleski allowed just one run over seven innings, adding nine strikeouts, one walk and just six hits allowed. The only run he allowed came in the fifth inning after allowing a pair of one-out singles.
The left-hander has now thrown seven innings in three consecutive starts, giving up a total of six runs over those 21 innings. Wrobleski has also gone at least seven innings in seven of his 15 starts this season.
The Shark lowered his season ERA to 2.69 in 100.1 innings with a 1.02 WHIP and 73 strikeouts.
Shohei Ohtani hits 300th home run
Shohei Ohtani opened the scoring by slugging a leadoff home run in the first inning. That marked the 300th home run of Ohtani’s career. He became the fifth-fastest player in MLB history to join the 300 home run club, needing just 1,102 games — not including any he only appeared as a pitcher.
Ohtani, who was already the all-time home run leader among Japanese-born players in MLB history, also became the first Japanese player to join the 300 club.
In addition, Ohtani became the first player in MLB history with 300 home runs and 100 stolen bases in his first nine seasons.
He also passed Babe Ruth on the all-time pitcher strikeouts list by a player who also hit 300 home runs. Ohtani has 765 strikeouts and 300 homers in his career, while Ruth struck out 501 along with hitting 714 home runs. No other player with at least 300 home runs has struck out more than 11 hitters.
The Dodgers added their other runs on a bases loaded walk from Andy Pages and a single from Alex Freeland, who had three hits in the game.
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