While most of the focus was on the MLB trade deadline on Wednesday afternoon, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies had a game to play, which provided its own late fireworks in similar fashion to the flurry of activity early in the afternoon.
Runs are usually plentiful at Coors Field, especially when these two teams meet, but that wasn’t the case on Wednesday. Ultimately, the Dodgers were able to come out on top behind late scoring in a 5-1 victory to clinch a series win.
Will Smith has been so clutch in his short time with the Dodgers, and that was again the case. He stepped to the plate in a scoreless game in the ninth inning and proceeded to launch a towering three-run home run to center field to give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead.
Then, after a single by Alex Verdugo, who had a 4-for-4 day at the plate, recently-acquired infielder Kristopher Negrón hit his second home run in as many games with the team to provide some insurance and extend the lead to 5-0.
The last time Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched at Coors Field he had by far his worst outing of the season, allowing seven earned runs while being unable to get out of the fifth inning.
He rebounded in a big way this time around, turning in six shutout innings while allowing just three hits and a walk, striking out one.
The only real trouble he got into was in the third inning when Tony Wolters doubled and Charlie Blackmon hit a single to right with two outs. Cody Bellinger threw out Wolters trying to score to end the inning. The outfield assist was Bellinger’s ninth of the season.
Rockies starter German Marquez matched Ryu pitch-for-pitch, tossing six shutout innings of his own while striking out 10. He suffered cramps while warming up for the seventh, marking the end of his day and turning it over to the Rockies bullpen.
The Dodgers offense threatened in the eighth against that bullpen with Verdugo and Negrón singling and Joc Pederson walking to load up the bases with two outs. However, Max Muncy flew out to center on the first pitch against Scott Oberg to end the inning and keep the game scoreless. That didn’t last long though with the Dodgers breaking through in the ninth.
Ryu was removed from the game after just 80 pitches, but the Dodgers bullpen got the job done to close out the victory. The only run they gave up was by J.T. Chargois in the ninth inning, which forced Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to go to Kenley Jansen to finish it out.
