Colorado Rockies morning after: A much-needed win against the Dodgers in Dodger Stadium

It was nearly a full calendar year since the Colorado Rockies won a game at Dodger Stadium against the Los Angeles Dodgers but they pulled it off on Saturday.

The Colorado Rockies got a much-needed win against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium as they defeated the Dodgers by a score of 5-2. The last time the Rockies won at Dodger Stadium was on September 21, 2019, when they beat the Dodgers 4-2. It was the only time they beat the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in 2019.

Through eight innings on Saturday, for the Rockies, it was a story of good pitching and lackluster hitting as they only had two runs and only three hits, two of which came from Charlie Blackmon.

On the pitching front, German Marquez pitched seven innings, allowing five hits, two runs (all earned), three walks, and he struck out five.

Yency Almonte came on in relief in the eighth inning and he faced, perhaps, the most dangerous part of the Dodgers lineup (2-3-4 in the Dodgers lineup, which was Corey Seager, Max Muncy, and Cody Bellinger) and he retired them in order on 11 pitches.

Heading to the top of the 9th, the Rockies put together, arguably, the best at-bats that they have strung together in a few weeks. For the Rockies that led the inning off, they all got one hittable pitch inside the strike zone and took advantage of it.

Raimel Tapia led the inning off and after getting the count to 2-0, he got a 97 MPH sinker that was right down the middle from Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen and hit it to left field for a single. Trevor Story followed and after getting the count to 1-0, he hit the first pitch he saw in the zone and punched it to right field. As a result, the speedy Tapia was able to advance to third with nobody out.

Nolan Arenado followed and after getting down 0-1 on a called strike that was a borderline pitch away, he went with the 90 MPH slider that was middle-away and took it right field. Tapia scored and Story advanced to 2nd.

Arenado spoke with the media after the game, including Rox Pile, and he said that he was extremely glad to get the go-ahead RBI single.

"“I’ve been uncomfortable all year,” said Arenado. “I just haven’t really done a good job all year and to help the team win there [and] get the leading run was a good feeling. I haven’t done that really [this season] so it felt really good to do that [again].”"

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Left-hander Alex Wood came on in relief of Treinen after Arenado’s hit and after Wood got Charlie Blackmon out and after he intentionally walked Kevin Pillar to load the bases, the struggling Daniel Murphy was pinch-hit for by Josh Fuentes, who Bud Black told him earlier that he was going to pinch-hit for Murphy if his spot came up.

Fuentes worked the count to 1-2 and, after the first two pitches, as he told the media, including Rox Pile, later, he recognized that Wood was working him away.

By the fifth pitch of the at-bat, all of the pitches were off the plate away. Even though pitch number five was, in Fuentes’ estimation, “almost a foot outside,” he was still looking there and he got his pitch. He hit a liner down the right-field line and into the corner, scoring Story and Arenado, both of whom could have essentially walked home, and advancing Pillar to third base.

The lead stayed there for Rockies closer Daniel Bard. He allowed a one-out single to AJ Pollock but he struck out Gavin Lux and Edwin Rios flied out to end the game, notching Bard his fifth save on the year.

The Rockies will look to take the series and win back-to-back games at Dodger Stadium for the first time since June 2018. A win would put the Rockies back at .500, with a record of 20-20 with 20 games to play after Sunday.

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The Rockies will have Ryan Castellani on the mound against left-hander Julio Urias with an ultra-rare 8:10 p.m. (Mountain time) start time (after Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN). The game will be broadcast on MLB Network for those not in the TV markets for the Dodgers and Rockies.

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