Dodgers 13, Rockies 0: Yes it was that bad

The Rockies were crushed by the Dodgers in an abysmal series opener.

There’s no better way to put it: the Colorado Rockies got stomped by the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight in a 13-0 shutout at Coors Field. It was ugly, it was frustrating, and it felt way longer than it actually was with the final game time clocking in at just over three hours. It was a complete failure on the Rockies’ part against their NL West big brother. The pitching was bad, the defense was bad, and the offense was bad. The Rockies fall to 45-55 and are ten games below .500 after 100 games.

Ureña Underscores Ugly Undertaking

It was about as ugly a game as you could see from the Rockies, starting with the clock hitting midnight on the magic as starting pitcher José Ureña turned back into a pumpkin. Ureña was dinged for ten runs (seven earned) on eight hits and three walks. He struck out two batters. He was definitely not helped by sloppy Rockies defense. After a single and a walk in the first inning, a throwing error from catcher Elias Díaz allowed a runner to score and put a runner on third. A wild pitch from Ureña allowed a second run to score. Okay, not a great first inning, but you can still recover… right? Ureña kicked off the second inning in similar fashion with a single and a walk. When a Dodgers batter appeared to ground into a double play, Rockies fans breathed a sigh of relief. Then Connor Joe pegged the base runner with his throw to second. After that throwing error, the bases were loaded with no outs and things spiraled completely out of control. Two doubles and a walk given up by Ureña would let the Dodgers take a 6-0 lead. The third inning appeared to be adequate damage control with a 1-2-3 inning as Ureña was left in to protect the bullpen, but then the fourth inning compounded things on an already miserable night. Ureña gave up back to back singles, then loaded the bases with a throwing error of his own. His night would end with one final single and the Dodgers up 8-0 as Austin Gomber took over out of the bullpen. Gomber got the three outs in the fourth inning, but not before a single and a double closed the book on Ureña’s night and gave the Dodgers an 11-0 lead less than halfway through the game.

Solid bullpen effort helps tourniquet a gaping wound

By the time the bullpen got to work tonight, the damage was so severe that there wasn’t much to be done. Austin Gomber did allow inherited runners to score, but was only credited with one earned run over his two complete innings of work. He didn’t walk any batters, notched a strikeout, and had one of just two 1-2-3 innings on the night. Justin Lawrence made his big league return in the sixth inning and gave up a double to Gavin Lux but worked a scoreless inning. In the seventh he gave up a walk, a single, and a double to give the Dodgers two more runs. He did strike out three batters and showed much better command compared to prior big league outings. Rookie reliever Jake Bird struck out two while giving up a hit in a scoreless eighth inning to end the night for the Rockies’ dedicated pitching staff.

Serven shuts the door

In what might have been the only fun and entertaining thing to happen for the Rockies in tonight’s game, skipper Buddy Black turned to a position player to pitch the top of the ninth. Rookie catcher Brian Serven made his first big league pitching appearance and faced the minimum amount of batters. Serven threw eight pitches—marked on official scorecard as sliders—with his fastest clocking in at 76.9 MPH. After issuing a six pitch walk to Zach McKinstry, Serven got Mookie Betts to ground into a double play on a single pitch. Trayce Thompson then flew out to right to end the inning. The Dodgers countered with a position player on the mound of their own. Infielder Hanser Alberto made his fifth career pitching appearance.

Blown out and shut out

The Rockies offense failed to score a single run tonight, even with a position player pitching the bottom of the ninth inning. They managed seven hits against the Dodgers, but four of them were from Brendan Rodgers. Rodgers was 4-for-4 with four singles. The only Rockies batter with an extra base hit was Kris Bryant, who hit a ground rule double in the fourth inning, Yonathan Daza and Randal Grichuk accounted for the two remaining hits with singles of their own. The Rockies only struck out four times, but also only walked once. They were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left eight men stranded as they were crushed beneath the Dodgers’ boot.

Coming Up Next

Game two of this four game set comes tomorrow night with Dodgers lefty Julio Urías on the mound against Chad Kuhl. First pitch is at 6:40 PM MDT.