Colorado Rockies Morning After: 3 Things To Know About Wednesday’s Loss in LA

The Colorado Rockies ended their six-game road trip through San Francisco and Los Angeles with a 4-2 loss at Chavez Ravine on Wednesday night. 4-2 is also what Colorado’s record was on the swing through the National League West rivals.

Here are three things you should know about Wednesday night’s game…

The Rockies didn’t get to Clayton Kershaw when they had the chance

Colorado started the game by loading the bases against Kershaw. Charlie Blackmon opened with a walk and DJ LeMahieu and Nolan Arenado followed with singles. No outs and the bases full? It seemed like the chance to get on top of one of MLB’s best pitchers early. However, the Rockies could only score one run, that coming on a Mark Reynolds sacrifice fly.

Sure the 1-0 lead was great in the bottom of the first. However, deep down, there was just a feeling that it wasn’t enough against Kershaw. As it turned out, the feeling was right. Kershaw only got stronger as the game went along, finishing with 10 strikeouts in seven innings.

CarGo goes down

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One of the biggest outs Kershaw got in the first inning to limit the Colorado damage was a strikeout of Carlos Gonzalez to get the first out of the frame.

CarGo wouldn’t face Kershaw again until the fourth. The faceoff, however, would cause Colorado fans to hold their breath.

Kershaw struck Gonzalez on the left hand with an inside pitch, sending CarGo to the ground in obvious pain. After a spring filled with so many injuries, it looked like Colorado might lose another key piece of their offense for an extended period of time when CarGo left the game. Reports, however, eventually would prove much more positive.

Stephen Cardullo entered the game for CarGo and ended up with an RBI, taking over both as Colorado’s cleanup hitter and right fielder.

The Rockies have a day off on Thursday before starting a seven-game homestand against San Francisco and Washington. Colorado will know more about CarGo’s availability as Friday night’s opener draws nearer. However, it looks like the Rockies may have dodged a major bullet.

Tyler Still Struggles

Tyler Anderson was cruising along against the Dodgers until a disastrous bottom of the fifth inning.

For four innings, Anderson looked like the 2016 version of himself, only surrendering a solo home run to Scott Van Slyke. However, in the fifth, the wheels completely came off.

Chris Taylor led off the inning with a double, then Kershaw laid down a sacrifice bunt. When Anderson fielded it, his hesitation cost him as he decided whether to try to get Taylor heading to third. When he finally did throw to first, the throw was low and Kershaw was safe on the error.

Kershaw would eventually score on Corey Seager’s single, marking the fourth consecutive Dodger to reach base in the inning. The Dodgers scored three times in the frame to grab a 4-1 lead.

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It marked the third consecutive start where Anderson has thrown five innings or less. That’s the bad news. The good news? Anderson did show improvement by only surrendering two earned runs after giving up 14 earned runs in his first three outings of the season.