Colorado Rockies bats fall asleep against Dodgers in 4-2 loss

The Rockies were unable to provide much offense Thursday night, managing only five hits in a 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Their only extra-base hit was from phenom David Dahl, who extended his hit streak to 10 games to start his career and is only eight more games away from breaking the record.

All was quiet during the first few innings with the Dodgers only posing a slight threat in the second inning. With a runner on first, Joc Pederson smashed a ball of Mark Reynolds’ glove and looked to be coasting towards an RBI double when a fan alertly interfered and saved the Rockies a run. He likely was undercover, paid by the Monforts to help the team win at all costs. cue conspiracy music

Or he just got over-excited when he saw a ball coming his way and had no situational awareness. Either way, it prevented a run and the Rockies moved on unscathed.

The Dodgers struck first in the top of the fourth. The newly acquired Josh Reddick started off the inning with a walk, coming back from an 0-2 count to earn the base. Adrian Gonzalez singled and, one out later, Howie Kendrick laced a two-out single to drive in Reddick. After another walk, Chatwood induced a double-play ball to end the inning.

That Dodger lead didn’t last long. Nolan Arenado led off the bottom of the fourth with a single to left and advanced to second on a passed ball from Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal. A few pitches later, it didn’t matter; David Dahl crushed his first Coors Field home run, scoring Arenado and giving the Rockies a 2-1 lead. That homer will be the first of many for Dahl in a Rockies uniform, who is hitting cleanup for the second time in his first ten games of the year. The trust and confidence Rockies manager Walt Weiss has in Dahl is indicative of the team’s belief that he will contribute in big ways for this team for a long time.

The back-and-forth continued into the top of the fifth. Corey Seager, the leading rookie-of-the-year candidate with Trevor Story on the disabled list, blasted a one-out home run into the Rockies bullpen to tie the game. The hits didn’t stop there; Justin Turner followed the homer with a double, Adrian Gonzalez dribbled a single up the middle, and both runners scored on a Grandal triple, completing the team cycle in the inning.

Chatwood fought his way through six innings and kept the team in the ballgame. He looked very good in the first few innings but looked more hit-able and lost control as time went on. While the box score shows a pretty solid line, it was clear that Chatwood was not at the top of his game.

The Rockies weren’t able to get a runner to second base after Dahl’s home run, going down quietly in the final game of the series.

The Rockies used Boone Logan in the seventh, Adam Ottavino in the eighth, and Carlos Estevez in the ninth to finish the game. The Rockies drop back to .500 at 54-54 and start a three-game series against a fellow Wild-Card contender in the Miami Marlins. First pitch tomorrow is at 6:40 MT at Coors Field. For the Marlins, former closer David Phelps is moving to the rotation and will face off against Jorge De La Rosa.