Before Sunday afternoon’s game at Dodger Stadium, Rockies manager Bud Black was asked to rate his team’s mood.
“There is a level of frustration and a level, in the absence of a better term, anger, about how this happened,” he said. “There is a lot of fighting in this group. They have a lot of pride. ”
One can imagine the level of frustration and anger after the Dodgers bombed the Rockies, 11-3, abusing seven home points, four of which came from starter Antonio Senzatela.
“I think Buddy said it perfectly,” all-star shortstop Trevor Story said after the blowout loss. ‘We love this team so much, about winning and believing in ourselves. But we are not pursuing that now. We do not play the way we know we can play. And that’s always frustrating, and it’s hard to figure out exactly what you need to do to win back (win). ”
Colorado’s sizzling 11-3 start now looks like a mirage.
It has lost seven consecutive games and 12 of 14. In Los Angeles, the Rockies have been a bigger flop than ‘Cats’, the movie. LA has defeated the Rockies in 16 of the past 17 games at Dodger Stadium, a run of futility at a ballpark of an opponent who has been powerless in Rockies history.
With struggling right-hander Ross Stripling on the mound for LA, and with Senzatela winning the game 3-0 with a 3.90 ERA, Colorado seemed to have a first name. What’s more, Senzatela had made just two home games in his first five outings this season.
But with his pitches drifting into the zone, the Dodgers’ cheerful band celebrates. The right-hander became the Rockies’ ninth pitcher to allow four homers in a road game and the first Colorado pitcher to give up four at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers’ house runs off Senzatela, in order: Corey Seager, solo in the first; Mookie Betts, solo in second, Kike Hernandez, three-run blast in fourth; and Cody Bellinger, solo in the sixth. The other homers of The Dodgers: Will Smith in the seventh by Tyler Kinley; a solo shot by Max Muncy of Ashton Goudeau in the eighth; and a two-run blast by Betts in the eighth, who now has 11 this season.
That the Dodgers Home Run Derby vs. playing the Rockies should come as no surprise. After all, the Dodgers’ 44 homers against Colorado last season tied for most home games vs. against. an opponent in one season in the history of the National League.
The Rockies, believe it or not, tied the game 2-all in the fourth on Ryan McMahon’s solo homer off Stripling, but the Dodgers countered with Hernandez’s three-run run from Senzatela at the bottom of the frame.
Senzatela was close to escaping unharmed. Muncy hit a sharp grounder in the hole, where first baseman Daniel Murphy tried to make a dive stop, but instead the ball slid out of his glove for a two-out base hit. If Murphy had not touched the ball, second baseman Brendan Rodgers would have had an easy game. Instead, Hernandez jumped on Senzatela’s mph fastball and launched it into the right field goal.
“That was probably the most important inning of the game,” Black said. “Senza” had two outs, none on and threw the ball well. I thought this was the turning point, by making a 2-2 balgame a 5-2 game. ”
A mental error by Murphy changed the tenor of the game in the second inning. Murphy was put in third and McMahon was in second place with no one out when Rodgers hit a sharp ground to third baseman Matt Beaty. Murphy bolted for home and was soon tagged. Black noted, however, that McMahon would have to run between Murphy, between second and third, to force the action and possibly finish on third base instead of staying on second.
Colorado hit three solo home runs to account for all of his scores.
Story muscle a home game in the seats on the left field in the third, his eighth. With his 131st career home run, Story passed Matt Holliday (130) for single possession of 10th place on the Rocklist’s all-time list. Rookie outfielder Sam Hilliard fired a solo shot to the right in the ninth, his third of the season.
The Rockies open a four-game series in Arizona on Monday night.
