Rockies 3, Dodgers 1: Tyler Anderson dominant, offense delivers three home runs

The Colorado Rockies won the first of three games against the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend. The combination of three home runs and a dominant eight-inning outing by Tyler Anderson was the key to cooling off a hot Dodgers team that had had the Rockies number as of late.

A perfect beginning

The first-inning struggles by the Rockies’ starting pitchers have been well-documented. For a few seconds, it appeared like they might continue for Tyler Anderson when Chris Taylor hit a deep fly ball to right field. However, Noel Cuevas tracked it down just short of the wall, and then Tyler Anderson settled in and struck out the next two batters swinging. That was the beginning of Anderson’s run of 11-straight batters that Anderson would retire before allowing a single to Justin Turner.

Anderson bounced back quickly and kept the Dodgers from ever reaching second base in his eight innings of work. Anderson struck out eight Dodgers and walked only one. That walk in the eight inning was quickly erased by the Rockies second double play of the night.

Patty Barrels returns

It’s been a rough season for the Pat Valaika. Last season he was a pinch-hitting rookie wunderkind. This season he struggled so bad that he’s had to go back to Triple-A to fix his swing. Placed in the lineup to give the Rockies left-handed batter a break against a tough lefty, Valaika made the decision pay off in a big way to give the Rockies the lead in the fifth inning.

A two-way player

The Rockies were held to only six hits by Rich Hill in his 6 ²⁄₃ innings of work. Two of those hits were by Anderson who also delivered the knock-out blow in the seventh when he singled with two outs and a runner on to force the Dodger to go to their bullpen.

#NolanBeingNolan

Nolan Arenado never disappoints. Pretty much every game there’s a legitimate reason to run this.

Oh, he also hit his 20th home run of the season in the 8th inning to give the Rockies a 2-0 lead.

Up next

The Rockies will be on Fox tomorrow afternoon when they try to guarantee a series win against the Dodgers at 5:15 PM MT tomorrow. Germán Márquez will face off against Kenta Maeda.