The Los Angeles Dodgers saw the return of Brandon McCarthy against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday afternoon as they looked to complete their fifth series sweep of the season and extend their home winning streak to nine games.
McCarthy came out of the gate firing, striking out two of the first three batters faced. He then got Carlos Gonzalez to ground out to finish a scoreless first inning. Corey Seager extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a one-out single in the bottom of the first.
He was stranded, however, as Jon Gray retired Justin Turner and Adrian Gonzalez. McCarthy set the Rockies down in order in the second inning and picked up another strikeout in the process.
After giving up a leadoff home run to Trayce Thompson, Gray quickly found himself in trouble. He hit Howie Kendrick with a pitch and walked Yasiel Puig and Yasmani Grandal to load the bases with none out.
Gray fell behind in the count 3-1 to McCarthy and walked him two pitches later. Turner added an RBI single with two outs, but Grandal was easily thrown out at home plate by Rockies left fielder Brandon Barnes to end the inning.
McCarthy worked around a Charlie Blackmon two-out single in the third to keep the Dodgers’ 3-0 lead intact. After Gonzalez led off the bottom of the third with a base hit, Gray struck out Thompson and induced Howie Kendrick into an inning-ending double play.
Puig led off the bottom of the fourth with a double down the third base line. He was then either the victim of a tremendous deke by Nolan Arenado, or suffered a mental lapse. Grandal hit a high pop up back of third base, and Arenado appeared to be fighting off the sun.
He made the catch and quickly threw to second base to double up Puig, who was well off the bag. McCarthy was then called out on strikes to end the inning. Nick Hundely drew a leadoff walk in the fifth, only for it to be followed by McCarthy striking out the side.
McCarthy finished with five scoreless innings, two hits allowed, one walk and eight strikeouts. Blackmon was picked off after getting hit by an Adam Liberatore pitch to start the sixth. Liberatore then got a strikeout and groundout to end the inning.
Gray quickly retired the Dodgers in order in the bottom of the sixth. Casey Fien allowed the Rockies to get on the board in the seventh behind a Daniel Descalso home run. Chad Qualls took over for the Rockies in the bottom half of the inning and promptly gave up a solo home run to Grandal.
Joe Blanton struck out the side in the eighth inning, and Kenley Jansen allowed a two-out single but otherwise also struck out the side to earn the save in the Dodgers’ 4-1 victory.
