Germán Márquez got roughed up at Dodger Stadium back in April, and he experienced some déjà vu on Tuesday as the Dodgers marched their way to a 7-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies, extending their win streak to three games.
The Dodgers couldn’t put up a barrage in the first inning like they did the last time Márquez pitched at Dodger Stadium, as they went down in order. Will Smith made his return to the lineup after missing the last five games, and he welcomed himself back with a line drive double
down the left field line to open the bottom of the second inning. After tagging from third on a deep fly ball out from Max Muncy, Smith took advantage of a wild pitch from Márquez to give the Dodgers the early lead.
The Dodgers were one strike away from being held in order against Márquez, but Shohei Ohtani worked a two-out walk to bring Mookie Betts’ scorching bat to the plate. Betts pounced on a 2-0 fastball and smashed his third home run over his last six games to give the Dodgers a three run lead.
Teoscar Hernández played spoiler against Márquez in the bottom of the fourth inning as the Colorado right-hander was once again one strike away from a clean inning. Hernández turned on a 3-2 fastball on the inside corner that landed 423 feet for his first home run since Aug. 20, making it a four run Dodger lead. Ohtani would push the lead to five on an RBI single in the fifth inning.
All of this backed up Emmet Sheehan, who rebounded nicely after a rough start in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
On the 60th anniversary of Sandy Koufax’s perfect game, Sheehan continued the trend of Dodgers starting pitching being unhittable, as he retired the first 15 hitters in order, making it 12 consecutive no-hit innings by the starting rotation. Rookie Kyle Karros ruined the perfect game bid with a leadoff single in the top of the sixth inning, later scoring on a single from Tyler Freeman. That was the only blemish Sheehan had, as he allowed just a walk afterwards to give himself seven innings of one-run ball, striking out nine and walking just one.
Alex Vesia made his return from injury on Tuesday, relieving Sheehan in the eighth inning where he struck out two in a clean inning.
The Dodgers added some insurance on a pair of solo home runs from Freddie Freeman and Hernández. It was Freeman’s 20th of the season, giving him four straight seasons of at least 20 home runs in his first four years as a Dodger. For Hernández, it was his 21st career multi-homer game.
The Rockies were able to scratch across another run in the ninth inning, as Hunter Goodman lined a blistering home run off of Kirby Yates, making him the first catcher in Rockies history with at least 30 home runs in a single season.
With the San Diego Padres losing to the Cincinnati Reds 4-2, the Dodgers extend their division lead to two games in the NL West.
Game particulars
- Home runs— Mookie Betts (17), Teoscar Hernández 2 (23), Freddie Freeman (20); Hunter Goodman (30)
- Emmet Sheehan (6-3): 7 IP, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 9 strikeouts
- Germán Márquez (3-13): 5 IP, 6 hits, 5 earned runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts
Up next
The Dodgers wrap things up against Colorado on Wednesday (7:10 p.m. PT) as they try and go for a sweep of the Rockies before heading up to San Francisco to take on the Giants at Oracle Park over the weekend. Blake Snell faces fellow southpaw Kyle Freeland in the finale.
