The Los Angeles Dodgers finally got the offense going Monday, taking advantage of a favorable environment in Coors Field as they cruised to a series-opening win over the Colorado Rockies.
The Dodgers hadn’t scored double-digit runs in more than a month leading up to Monday, but got off on the right foot to open their series. Mookie betts doubled in the top of the second after Max Muncy drew a leadoff walk, putting the Dodgers on the board first.
LA broke things open the following inning, as Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman both singled—bringing Andy Pages to the plate. A Pages single scored Ohtani, and bringing a hot hitter in Muncy to the plate. The veteran worked a long at-bat against Rockies starter Tomoyuki Sugano, and absolutely crushed the eighth pitch of the at-bat—a middle-middle sinker.
Muncy shot the ball over the bullpens in right and into the second deck for a three-run homer, with statcast estimating a distance of 461 feet.
The Rockies pulled one back in the third, but the Dodgers didn’t take their foot off the gas. Ohtani hit a home run of his own in the top of the fifth inning to make the score 6-1, and Betts brought home another run later in the inning with a groundout.
Ohtani hit his second homer of the night in the following inning, this time bringing home two runs with a 452-foot blast into Kyle Hurt’s glove. Freeman hit a double immediately after, and came across to score with another RBI single from Pages.
The Rockies scratched across their final run of the night in the seventh inning after a routine flyout kicked off of a struggling Kyle Tucker’s glove, but LA immediately got their run back. Freeman got involved again in the top of the eight with a one-run double, scoring Ohtani for the third time on the night.
Edwin Diaz came in to close out the game and his struggles continued, allowing three runs before he closed out the game.
How Did Blake Snell Pitch?
Blake Snell gave the Dodgers yet another strong outing in his second start since returning from a procedure to remove loose bodies in his elbow, striking out five batters across six innings of one-run baseball. He walked three batters, all off which came in the third inning, but only allowed two hits on the evening.
The left-hander likely could have lasted longer in the game if needed, throwing just 90 pitches during his outing, but the nature of the game didn’t require him to continue.
Snell has only allowed two runs across his 12 innings since returning to the team, and has struck out 15 batters during those two starts.
The Dodgers still have two more games against the Rockies, with the next matchup coming Wednesday at 5:40 p.m. PT. LA will hope to continue producing on offense as they try to permanently break out of the offensive struggles which have ailed them since the All-Star break.