In a matchup between young pitchers Julio Urias and Antonio Senzatela, both of whom had impressed thus far, neither was overly sharp at Coors Field on Mother’s Day. The Los Angeles Dodgers made a game of it late, but Pat Valaika powered the Colorado Rockies to a win that kept them in first place in the National League West.
Corey Seager opened the scoring early, clubbing a two-run home run to right-center field that was hit a mile high. Justin Turner followed with a single before Antonio Senzatela recorded the first out — a strike out of Cody Bellinger.
Yasmani Grandal’s base hit extended his hitting streak to eight games and left runners on the corners with one out, thanks in some part to alert baserunning by Turner. While the Dodgers seemingly had Senzatela on the ropes, they let the rookie off the hook.
Chris Taylor’s safety squeeze bunt resulted in an inning-ending double play, with Turner caught in a rundown and Grandal out at third base.
Julio Urias similarly ran into early trouble, and was let down by his defense. Following a Charlie Blackmon leadoff single that Joc Pederson arguably should have caught, DJ LeMahieu’s bunt rolled halfway up the third-base line, settling on the chalk.
Chase Utley failed to get to a pop-up in foul territory, and Nolan Arenado made the Dodgers pay with an RBI double. Mark Reynolds followed with a go-ahead, two-run single to center field. Urias managed to get the inning back under control by inducing a double play.
Yasiel Puig turned on Senzatela’s knee-high fastball on the inner-half of the plate, lining a game-tying solo home run just over the fence in left field. The home run was Puig’s seventh this season, which is tied with Bellinger for the team lead.
Bellinger’s first hit of the game was a hustle double on a blooper to left field. With a pair of runners in scoring position and one out, Grandal’s RBI single gave the Dodgers a 4-3 lead.
Blackmon and LeMahieu both singled with nobody out in the bottom of the third, only to themselves run into an out. While Urias had some help, he sequenced pitches well to get out of the inning without allowing a run.
After walking Carlos Gonzalez with one out in the bottom of the fourth, Urias appeared to be in a small jam when his errant pickoff throw resulted in a two-base error. It turned out to be a moot point, as Pat Valaika hit a two-run home run.
Bellinger’s two-out walk in fifth was followed by Grandal reaching on an infield single. The three-hit game was his third since May 9. Senzatela turned the Dodgers away by retiring Taylor to end the inning.
Urias’ afternoon came to a close when he hit Blackmon with a pitch to open the bottom of the fifth. Sergio Romo allowed a two-run home run to Arenado, officially closing the book on Urias.
He was charged with six runs on seven hits over four-plus innings. Urias entered Sunday having allowed just two runs in 17 innings (1.06 ERA).
A Chase Utley leadoff single and Scott Van Slyke walk put two on with one out in the sixth inning. A groundout advanced both runners but Scott Oberg worked his way out of trouble, preserving the Rockies’ 7-4 lead.
Ross Stripling provided two scoreless innings in relief. The Dodgers left two men on base in the seventh, but broke through in the eighth inning, behind a pair of RBI singles from Turner and Bellinger, which trimmed the Rockies’ lead to 7-6.
Chris Hatcher was tagged by Valaika for a second two-run homer of the game, which sealed a 9-6 win for the Rockies. Colorado improved to 19-0 this season when leading after six innings and 20-0 when leading through eight innings.
