DENVER — In football, they call them ‘trap games’ – games against an inferior opponent that the superior team might overlook between more challenging matchups.
Settling in at Coors Field to enjoy the soft nougat between two series against the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers stepped in the trap and the Colorado Rockies snapped up a 4-3 walk-off win on Monday night.
At least recently, the Rockies haven’t quite been the pushover they have made their brand for two seasons now. They have won six of their past seven games and back-to-back series for just the second time all season.
Even with those high times, they still have the worst record in baseball by nine games.
The Dodgers did the expected, asserting themselves with four hits in the first seven batters against Rockies starter Kyle Freeland. A sacrifice fly by Dalton Rushing and an RBI single by Shohei Ohtani made it a 2-0 lead.
But then the Dodgers’ offense went into its usual unsupportive shell with Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitching.
Yamamoto retired the first six Rockies in order but walked Kyle Karros to start the third inning. Brenton Doyle followed with a soft single that dropped in front of Teoscar Hernandez in right field. Karros ran aggressively, taking third base on the hit and drawing a throw that allowed Doyle to take second base.
Both scored when No. 9 hitter Ryan Ritter bounced a single into right field.
Yamamoto went back to work, getting three ground outs to strand Ritter at third base and retiring 13 in a row after the two-run single.
Finally in the sixth inning, the Dodgers got Yamamoto the lead back. Freddie Freeman led off the inning with a walk against Rockies reliever Jaden Hill. Freeman stole second base to get into scoring position, but Andy Pages and Alex Call struck out, extending the Dodgers’ unproductive night to 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
Alex Freeland came off the bench and turned that around. His first MLB extra-base hit, a double into the right-center gap, drove in Freeman and gave Yamamoto a 3-2 lead (and just the 41st run the Dodgers have scored while Yamamoto was in the game during his 24 starts this season).
But Yamamoto gave up a game-tying home run to Ezequiel Tovar in the seventh inning.
The Rockies untied the score in the ninth when Tovar’s bloop to right field dropped in for a double and Warming Bernabel followed with a single through the middle off Justin Wrobleski.
More to come on this story.
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