The Rockies were decked by a wicked one-two punch Saturday night in a 5-2 loss at Dodger Stadium.
Gut punch: Starter Jon Gray departed the game in the third inning with tightness in his right forearm. Manager Bud Black said after the game that the club will know more about the injury in a day or two. Black did not seem to think the injury was serious.
Knockout Punch: A two-run single by catcher Will Smith in the eighth off struggling reliever Daniel Bard put the Dodgers ahead 4-2.
Max Muncy led off with a bloop single to left, Mookie Betts and Justin Turner drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. Then Will Smith jumped on Bard’s 3-1 fastball for a two-run single.
Bard, who lost his job as closer after struggling at Chicago earlier in the week, now has a 5.61 ERA. Since the all-star break, Bard has a 9.88 ERA. At Coors Field, he owns a 2.88 ERA in 32 appearances, but on the road, his ERA has ballooned to 11.12 in 20 outings.
The problem, according to Black, has been Bard’s struggles to command the movement of his pitches, especially his fastball, which has been running off the plate.
“Tonight, everything looked good, the delivery looked good, he just couldn’t get the ball in the strike zone,” Black said. “That’s always the challenge with guys with great movement. Controlling and commanding the movement, that’s a skill.
“At the high end, you have Hall of Famer Greg Maddux who had great movement on the ball and was able to locate it to the edges, in the strike zone, then move it a little bit off.
“A lot of pitchers with movement — I wouldn’t say it’s catch 22 because you want the movement — but if you don’t command it, it leads you out of the strike zone. That’s something we have talked to Daniel about.”
Los Angeles got a bonus run in the eighth on A.J. Pollock’s pinch-hit, RBI single off Robert Stephenson.
Gray departed the game in the third inning after giving up a leadoff single to Trea Turner and a walk to Muncy. Gray was in pain after he made one pitch to Mookie Betts. Rockies’ trainers checked out Gray on the mound before Black removed Gray from the game.
Marcio Jose Sanchez, The Associated Press
Colorado Rockies starter Jon Gray reacts after throwing a pitch during the third inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021, in Los Angeles.Gray, 29, is scheduled to become a free agent at the end of the season. The right-hander spent nearly three weeks on the injured list in June with a right flexor strain. Since returning from the IL, Gray made 12 starts, including Saturday’s outing. In two-plus innings, Gray gave up one run on two hits and three walks.
Black said the forearm tightness Gray experienced Saturday night was not in the same place as his previous injury.
“We are going to wait a couple of days and assess it,” Black said. “It’s in the top part of the forearm, which generally, in baseball parlance, is OK. So we will see.”
Right-hander Tyler Kinley replaced Gray and loaded the bases by walking Betts, but limited the damage by getting Turner to ground into a run-scoring double play and then struck out Smith.
Colorado scratched out a 1-0 lead in the third off lefty David Price. Taylor Motter led off with a single and Garrett Hampson followed with a walk. Gray moved them both over with a well-executed sacrifice bunt and Connor Joe scored Motter with a sacrifice fly to deep right.
The Rockies took a 2-1 lead in the fourth, string together a walk by Trevor Story, a double to right by Elias Diaz and an RBI groundout by Ryan McMahon.
But the Rockies, true to their road personality, finished the night with just three hits. In fact, after Diaz’s double, Dodgers pitchers retired 17 batters in a row.
Dodgers left fielder Chris Taylor tied the game, 2-2, in the bottom of the frame with a one-out solo homer to left off of Kinley.
The Rockies received solid work from right-hander Yency Almonte, who tossed a scoreless fifth and sixth, striking out four.
The Dodgers have won 11 of their last 14 games against the Rockies, and since the start of the 2018 season, they own a 46-18 record against them.
The two teams face off again Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium in the rubber game of the three-game series.
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