DENVER — For the first time this season, the Dodgers have lost back-to-back games.
And in a 9-6 loss to the Rockies on Sunday, they picked an ugly way to do it.
Despite being up three runs early, the Dodgers slowly wilted on a sunny afternoon at Coors Field. Roki Sasaki repeatedly stubbed his toe at the end of a 4 ⅔-inning, three-run start. Blake Treinen surrendered another lead in the seventh with a clunker out of the bullpen. The offense went quiet until a short-lived rally in the ninth.
The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani reacts after fouling off a pitch. Ohtani went 2-for-5 with an RBI on Sunday. AP
And even Edwin Díaz ’s return to action, after a nine-day layoff amid a drop in velocity that caused concern over his knee , only raised more questions during a three-run outing in the eighth that put the game out of reach.
“In this ballpark, a lot of things happen,” manager Dave Roberts said. “This ballpark is certainly a neutralizer. The pitchers don’t have the same feel.”
That became abundantly clear as the afternoon dragged along, with the Dodgers (15-6) failing to protect a late-game lead for the second straight day.
The team scored the first three runs, plating two in the third on an RBI single from Alex Freeland and an RBI double from Shohei Ohtani –– extending his on-base streak to 51 games –– then another in the fourth when debuting 28-year-old prospect Ryan Ward lofted a line drive over the second baseman’s head for an RBI single that marked his first career hit.
Alas, just like their loss Saturday , the offense cooled off, scoring only once more until the ninth.
And, also like Saturday, their pitching couldn’t keep them in front against the Rockies (9-13) and their light-hitting lineup.
The meltdown started with Sasaki, who couldn’t maintain his strong start to the day.
In the first three frames, the right-hander retired 8 of 10 batters he faced while attacking with his fastball. But after that, he let 8 of 12 reach base while once again losing his command.
The Rockies got one run in the fourth, an inning that could’ve been worse if not for a double play that retired the side. They then tied the game in the fifth, when Kyle Karros hit a 448-foot blast to lead the inning off and Edouard Julien followed Jake McCarthy ’s double with an RBI single.
Veteran reliever Treinen was Sunday’s other culprit. Handed a 4-3 lead in the seventh, he failed to record an out while allowing four straight hits. The big blow was a two-run, go-ahead homer from Mickey Moniak . Tyler Freeman drove in another to extend the Colorado lead.
Then came Díaz, who also failed to record an out in his three-run eighth inning –– extinguishing virtually any hope of a comeback (even though the Dodgers got the tying run to the plate in the ninth) to send the team to this season’s first losing streak.
The Dodgers’ Hyeseong Kim reacts after misplaying a ball Sunday against the host Rockies. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
That, surprisingly, the Dodgers will not win this series in Denver.
They can still salvage a four-game split, with a quirk in the schedule setting up a series finale Monday.
But given the gulf of class between the franchises, even that would represent a disappointment for a Dodgers club that had won five of its first six series this season.
Díaz. But only in the most literal sense.
For the first time since a blown save back on April 10, the Dodgers’ new $69 million closer not only got warm but finally entered a game.
What happened next, however, was not pretty.
He faced four batters. He recorded zero outs. And his velocity concerns did not go away , with his fastball averaging only 95.4 mph –– and bottoming out at 92.8 mph, one of the 10 slowest four-seamers of his 10-year career.
Granted, Díaz was coming off a long layoff and not pitching in a save situation. He also hit 97 mph on the radar gun a couple of times.
Overall, though, he simply didn’t look sharp, ballooning his early-season ERA over 10.00.
“Obviously, today, it just didn’t look sharp,” Roberts said of Díaz, who did not address reporters postgame. “I know what it’s supposed to look like, and when it doesn’t look like that, it gets a little concerning.”
There’s obviously Sasaki, who allowed 10 baserunners (seven hits, two walks, one HBP) for a second straight start and now has a 6.11 ERA and 1.87 WHIP in four outings (only one of which has seen him complete the fifth).
However, even before Díaz’s entrance, Treinen and the Dodgers’ bullpen made their own ugly case.
Over the first three weeks of the season, the unit had only blown two late-game leads. Now, they’ve done it on back-to-back days.
Treinen had entered Sunday without allowing a run in his first eight appearances this year. Amid the Colorado altitude, however, he had trouble with his trademark sweeper. All four hits he allowed came on the pitch, with all but one of them smoked at least 95 mph off the bat.
The Dodgers will go for a series split Monday with Justin Wrobleski (2-0, 2.12 ERA) on the mound. The Rockies will counter with veteran left-hander Jose Quintana (0-1, 5.63 ERA).
