Dodgers 2, Rockies 1: Ureña great, Bard blows it, and the offense forgot to show up

Rockies held to 1 hit as Dodgers complete sweep with walk-off win

Hopefully, the Rockies learned a very valuable lesson on Wednesday night: You may be able to get away loading the bases for Mookie Betts once and escape without any runs scoring. But you can’t do it twice.

With the game tied at 1-1 and Daniel Bard on the mound in the ninth inning, Cody Bellinger and Gavin Lux hit back-to-back singles, even though Lux’s could have been a double play if the Rockies weren’t in a shift that had José Iglesias on the right side of the diamond. After having two strikes on Will Smith, Bard walked Smith to load the bases with no outs. Betts then came to the plate and hit a chopper over Bard’s head and Iglesias couldn’t make the throw to get the force at home. Even if he would have, it would have been nearly impossible to get Bellinger, who recorded three times as many hits as the Rockies did combined and twice as many runs in a heartbreaking 2-1 loss on Wednesday night. The Rockies were held to one hit, wasting a great Colorado debut by José Ureña.

Ureña shows veteran poise

Maybe it was the gum.

Steadily chewing a big chunk of gum, José Ureña was nothing short of impressive in his Rockies debut. Facing one of the best lineups in baseball, the 8-year MLB pitcher held the Dodgers scoreless through six innings. Ureña started the night strong by getting Betts to fly out on his second pitch. However, he then surrendered a walk to Trea Turner and a single by Freddie Freeman to put runners on the corners with only one out. But Ureña stepped up in the jam, getting Max Muncy to pop out and Justin Turner to ground out. As he hit 98 mph on the radar gun with his sinker, he continued to get out of jams with walks, including getting Bellinger to ground into a double play, striking out Betts, and getting Turner, Freeman, and Betts to fly out — even if it all three were on the warning track. Through five innings, he only gave up two hits and retired seven in a row at one point. The Dodgers finally got onto Ureña in the seventh when he gave up a leadoff infield single to Justin Turner, but then erased him when Jake Lamb hit into a Montero-to-Iglesias double play.

Bellinger and Lux followed with back-to-back singles to end Ureña’s night. Jake Bird entered in relief and struggled, hitting Austin Barnes to load the bases and then throwing a wild pitch that allowed Bellinger to score. Despite getting Betts to ground out to limit the damage, the Dodgers tied up the game and blew Ureña’s shutout. Ureña’s final line: 6 ²⁄₃ innings, 1 run, 5 hits, 3 walks, and 2 strikeouts. Bird took the blown save, while Bard suffered his third loss of the season.

Whiteout through five innings

For 5 ¹⁄₃ innings, the Rockies were held hitless by Mitch White. He not only shut down the Rockies, but he also struck out six, including the side of Grichuk, Elehuris Montero, and Brian Serven in the fifth. With a fastball in the mid-90s and a slider in the mid-80s and a sinker and curveball sprinkled in, the Rockies were off balance. Through five innings, the Rockies couldn’t even do anything with three walks. That changed in the sixth when Kris Bryant drew a one-out walk and then Brendan Rodgers broke up the potential no-no with a bloop single to center. Bryant, who was running on the pitch, was sliding into third when Bellinger’s errant throw was too much for Justin Turner to handle, allowing Bryant to score.

White was pulled after getting Cron to fly out, but the Dodgers prevented any more damage. His final line: 5 ²⁄₃ innings, 1 run, 1 hit, 4 walks, and 6 strikeouts.

Rockies can’t hit against bullpen either

Rodgers’ single in the sixth was the only hit for the Rockies. David Price (1 ¹⁄₃ inning), former Rockie Yency Almonte (1 inning), and Craig Kimbrel (1 inning, only 5 pitches needed) all posted scoreless frames. Almonte hit Brian Serven in the left wrist, but Kris Bryant erased him when he hit into a double play. Luckily, Cron drew two walks in the game, which helped him extend his streak of reaching base to 18 games in a row. The Rockies only managed six runs in the three-game sweep at the hands of the Dodgers and are now 4-5 against L.A. on the season.

Iglesias’ web gem

In the fourth inning, José Iglesias did a pretty darn good Willie Mays impression, even if it was the shortstop version. Justin Turner hit a pop fly that looked destined to meet the grass in shallow center, but instead was nabbed by a quickly moving Iglesias. Iglesias was almost in the middle of the outfield by the time he made the catch, but he never even looked up. He causally just had his glove in front of him and caught the ball. In the same stride, he flipped the ball behind his back to Randal Grichuk.

Up next

The Rockies will now head to Arizona to play a four-game series against the Diamondbacks to see if they can climb out of last place in the NL West. The first game is set for 7:40 p.m. MDT on Thursday when Austin Gomber (4-7, 6.53 ERA) will be on the mound for Colorado against Dallas Kuechel (2-6, 8.27 ERA).