Colorado Rockies @ Los Angeles Dodgers (9/5/20) — Final: COL 5, LAD 2

[rexkap]

A rough eighth inning causes the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were unable to find and maintain their groove offensively, to fall to the Colorado Rockies, 5-2.

Tony Gonsolin struck-out the side to start the game and Germán Marquez went to work in the bottom half. After walking Mookie Betts, he punched-out Corey Seager and got two ground-balls to end the inning. Charlie Blackmon doubled off of Gonsolin to begin the second. Betts made a leaping catch in front of the wall to rob Kevin Pillar of extra bases, but he lost the ball on the transfer, allowing Blackmon to score from 2nd on a sacrifice-fly. Marquez got two quick outs before Gavin Lux pulled a base hit and hustled his way to 2nd. Edwin Ríos lined-out, and the Dodgers were unable to answer. Gonsolin worked around a 2-out double from Raimel Tapia, but Betts’ single was all for LA offensively in the third. Blackmon hit a solo home run in the fourth, doubling the Rockies lead. Sam Hilliard reached over the wall and made a spectacular catch to take a homer away from Cody Bellinger in the home half. With an additional pair of sharply hit balls that were outs to follow, a bit of bad luck led to a hitless frame for LA, who remained trailing, 2-0. Gonsolin pitched a spotless frame in the fifth, and Lux walked to leadoff the home half. He stood on 3rd with 2-away, and Betts promptly singled to get the Dodgers in the board. Subsequently, Seager lined a double into the gap, scoring Betts to tie the game at 2. Gonsolin pitched a 1-2-3 frame in the sixth to conclude a very good outing: 6IP, 2ER, 3H, 0BB, 8K. Marquez walked Bellinger but erased it with a double-play of Joc Pederson before the inning ended. Victor Gonzalez entered to pitch the seventh and got Blackmon and Pillar swinging to start things. He proceeded to get Daniel Murphy on a ground-out, finishing a very quick frame. Austin Barnes’ 2-out double gave Betts an opportunity; however, Marquez worked a fly-out to escape. Gonzalez remained in for the eighth and got a fly-out and strike-out before Blake Trienen entered and got Matt Kemp swinging to end the frame. The power hitters of LA’s lineup went down in order, and Trienen remained on the mound in the ninth. Back-to-back singles put him into some trouble, and Nolan Arenado gave Colorado the lead with an RBI-knock. Alex Wood entered from there and Josh Fuentes broke the game open with a 2-run double, making it 5-2. Daniel Bard got the bottom of the ninth and pitched a scoreless frame, earning the save and ending the ballgame.

The Rockies hold off the boys in blue to end their six game winning streak and even up the series at Dodger Stadium. Tomorrow, the two teams will play the rubber match. Julio Urías, 3-0 with a 3.27 ERA, gets the ball and looks to build off of a strong outing last Tuesday. Starting for Colorado will be 24-year-old right-hander Ryan Castellani, 1-2 with an ERA of 4.81, hoping for some length. 7:10pm first pitch. Go Dodgers!