The sky stopped falling at Dodger Stadium, then the Colorado Rockies rallied for four runs in the fifth inning and handed the Los Angeles Dodgers an eighth consecutive loss and 13th in their last 14 games. Corey Seager went 1-for-5 with a double in his first start since Aug. 27.
In a break from what’s been the case in their two-week slide, it was the Dodgers jumped out to an early lead, doing so in emphatic fashion. Curtis Granderson led off the bottom of the first with a single, and two batters later Justin Turner lifted a hanging slider from German Marquez into the left-field pavilion for a go-ahead two-run homer.
Austin Barnes’ two-run single extended the Dodgers’ lead to 4-1 before Marquez could get through the opening frame. That was all the Dodgers would manage on the night, leading to a 5-4 loss.
Marquez walked Granderson and gave up a double to Corey Seager with one out in the fourth inning, but retired Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger to escape the small jam.
While Yu Darvish allowed the solo home run to Carlos Gonzalez in the first inning, he struck out five and retired nine of 10 batters faced through three. Darvish was let down by Granderson in the fifth, as he booted a ball in an attempt to cut it off.
What was likely a single instead resulted in a one-out double for Alexi Amarista. Jonathan Lucroy walked, and a wild pitch allowed both runners to advance. Joc Pederson made a diving attempt on Raimel Tapia’s drive to the left-center field gap but had the ball kick off his glove.
The two-run double pulled the Rockies to within a run of the Dodgers. Charlie Blackmon pulled a bullet down the first-base line that hit the chalk and went for an RBI double, and DJ LeMahieu’s grounder got by a diving Turner for a go-ahead double.
Darvish allowed five runs on five hits and struck out six in a mere 4.1 innings. Tony Watson, Pedro Baez, Tony Cingrani, Ross Stripling and Josh Fields combined to throw 4.2 shutout innings, with the only Rockies baserunners coming via one hit and two walks; one of which was intentional.
After falling behind, the Dodgers had one batter reach in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings. They finished the night 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10.
If there was any consolation to be had, the San Diego Padres defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, which trimmed the Dodgers’ magic number to clinch the division to 12.
