DENVER — The Los Angeles Dodgers’ patchwork pitching plan Saturday night was fraught but functional.
In a 3-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, it was their lineup that fell flat on the season’s second day.
In their lowest-scoring performance in Denver since July 2019, the Dodgers tallied just seven hits and no walks. For the first seven innings, they were silenced by Rockies starter German Marquez. Then in the eighth, they missed a prime opportunity, scratching across a game-tying run but leaving the bases loaded.
That allowed the Rockies to go on and win, with Connor Joe’s go-ahead home run off Blake Treinen in the bottom of the eighth proving to be the difference in front of a sold-out crowd of 48,087.
“We had a chance to win,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
In the top of the eighth inning, however, they squandered their best chance to take control.
Trailing 2-1, they got a rally going after a line-drive single from Gavin Lux and bloop base hit from Austin Barnes. In the next at-bat, Mookie Betts sent a weak fly ball into shallow center field, but it dropped between three Rockies to score Lux with the tying run.
Chants of “Fred-die!” from a heavy contingent of Dodgers fans then filled the ballpark as the team’s new star, Freddie Freeman, walked to the plate. He struck a fly ball to the deepest part of the ballpark, but watched it die right in front of the 415-foot marker in straightaway center field.
“I thought Freddie clipped (it),” Roberts said. “Just didn’t get enough of it.”
Instead, the Dodgers were left second-guessing a baserunning decision. Freeman’s drive was deep enough that Barnes could have tagged at second base and advanced to third — where he likely would have scored on Trea Turner’s infield single in the next at-bat.
Barnes stayed put though, unsure if the ball was going to bounce off the wall and electing to play it safe with only one out.
“With one out, by the book, you don’t, because you’re already in scoring position,” Roberts said when asked if the baserunners should have advanced. “But certainly on a ball that’s that far out, it wouldn’t have been a bad play.”
While Turner’s infield single loaded the bases, Max Muncy left all three stranded with a fly out.
In the bottom half of the inning, Treinen left a two-out, two-strike cutter over the heart of the plate that Joe clobbered 444 feet to give the Rockies a 3-2 lead.
“It’s not a bad pitch to throw if it’s executed,” Treinen said.
“But that was pretty flat, middle-middle. Definitely better pitches to throw in that situation.”
Rockies closer Daniel Bard struck out Justin Turner, Edwin Rios and Cody Bellinger in the ninth for the save.
The result overshadowed an encouraging, if not awe-inspiring performance from the Dodgers’ pitching staff. Tony Gonsolin labored through three innings but gave up only one run.
Newly signed bulk reliever Tyler Anderson then piggybacked for four more innings, also surrendering only one run.
“We put ourselves in a good spot to prevent runs tonight,” Roberts said.
Scoring them, however, was a different story.
The Dodgers altered their lineup — Chris Taylor sat against the right-handed Marquez in favor of designated hitter Rios, and Barnes replaced Will Smith behind home plate — but managed only one run in the first seven innings, on a home run by Barnes in the third.
Aside from that, Marquez kept them quiet. Utilizing a five-pitch mix headlined by an upper-90s fastball and swing-and-miss slider, the right-hander struck out five in seven innings and didn’t issue a walk.
And after Barnes’ home run, he retired 14 of the final 15 Dodgers he faced.
“We really didn’t get too many good swings off him,” Roberts said.
The Dodgers were punished for a couple of defensive miscues as well.
In the first inning, Betts fielded a Ryan McMahon single in right field and delivered an almost perfect throw to the plate as Kris Bryant tried racing home from second.
The one-hopper hit Barnes in the mitt, but then came free when he and Bryant collided.
The Rockies retook the lead in the sixth after second baseman Muncy bobbled a potential double-play ball. That allowed C.J. Cron to reach second, before he advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a bloop single by Joe.
Despite all that, the Dodgers still were in it late — and seemed to be on the verge of an offensive outburst in the eighth, similar to the five-run fourth inning that lifted them to a win on opening day.
This time, however, their star-studded offense failed to shine.
