Home Daily News Dodgers lose to Rockies on walk-off single in series opener – Press Enterprise

Dodgers lose to Rockies on walk-off single in series opener – Press Enterprise

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Tony Ramos
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Dodgers lose to Rockies on walk-off single in series opener – Press Enterprise

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Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto throws to the plate during the second inning of their game against the Colorado Rockies on Monday night at Coors Field in Denver. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

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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 – and snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Dodgers with Monday’s win.

“We should have won that game, certainly with the way he (Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto) pitched,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “This was a hard one to kind of put into words.”

Let’s try.

Teoscar Hernandez’s poor defense in right field led to at least two of the Rockies’ runs, most critically when a bloop double fell out of his glove in the ninth inning. And the Dodgers went 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position, striking out six times in those at-bats (and 12 times overall), against a Rockies pitching staff that ranks last in the majors in both total strikeouts and batting average against with RISP (.301).

“He’s going to be in the lineup,” Roberts said of Hernandez, ignoring the elephant in the room – that he doesn’t have to be in right field. “When you have a plus-game (a comfortable lead), I think I’m doing a good job of trying to get him off his legs and putting in some defensive specialists to go into run prevention mode.

“But he’s got to keep putting in the work to continue to get better. He’s up third in the top half (of the 10th if the game goes into extra innings), so I’m not going to take him out of the game (in the ninth). It’s just one of those things that, the defense is a big part of postseason baseball and winning baseball. So yeah, he’s just got to continue to get better.”

The first cost for having Hernandez in right field came in the third inning. The Dodgers had staked Yamamoto to a 2-0 lead. But Yamamoto walked the leadoff man, Kyle Karros. Hernandez got a slow jump on Brenton Doyle’s soft single that fell in front of Hernandez.

Hernandez defended his effort – though he didn’t try diving for either ball.

“It’s one of those where you have to make an expert type of play. I didn’t,” Hernandez said. “I don’t think if I would have dived I would have made it. I think that was a clear hit.”

That might be true. But his slow start allowed Karros to go first to third, drawing a throw that allowed Doyle to go to second base. Both runners scored when the No. 9 hitter, Ryan Ritter, bounced a single into right field, tying the game.

“I don’t know if he would’ve had a play on that one,” Roberts said. “I know it shouldn’t have been second and third. It shouldn’t have ended up on second and third. So the base hit scores two right there. He’s got to get better out there. There’s just no way to put it. I know there’s effort – it’s not a lack of effort. But the thing is, we’ve just got to get better. We do. I don’t know what else to say.”

Yamamoto did his part, getting three ground outs to strand Ritter at third base and retiring 13 in a row after the two-run single.

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.

“In his previous at-bats, I think I was in control pretty good,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter. “But especially in that at-bat (the home run), I was trying to hit the two-seamer up and in, but unfortunately I think it got away from me.”

The Dodgers had just one more hit after Freeland’s RBI double. That was a one-out double by Freeman in the eighth, but he was stranded as Andy Pages struck out and Michael Conforto flew out.

“Not making adjustments. Not shortening up. Not trying to move the ball forward. It’s adjustments, it is,” Roberts said of the Dodgers’ recurring problem. “Especially with runners in scoring position. You’ve got to make adjustments and shorten up and find a way to move it forward – you do – and give yourself a chance.

“You have to make an adjustment. If not then you’re going to have double-digit punch (strikeouts). We can be better than that. We need to be better.”

His bullpen depleted by the weekend series with the Padres, Roberts sent Justin Wrobleski out for the ninth inning to protect the tie. He got one out but Tovar lofted a pop-up into shallow right field. Freeland gave chase from second base but pulled up. Hernandez kept coming and got his glove on it near his ankles. But he didn’t hold it.

Tovar wound up on second base and scored on Warming Bernabel’s single through the middle.

“We were playing ‘no-doubles’ (deep). It’s a big outfield. I was playing pretty far (back),” Hernandez said. “I tried to make the play. I didn’t. It came off my glove. Unfortunately. Things happen.”

The NL West-leading Dodgers maintained their two-game lead over the Padres, who lost to the San Francisco Giants, 4-3.

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