LA Dodgers 6, Colorado 3
When: 3:10 PM ET, Sunday, October 1, 2017
Where: Coors Field, Denver, Colorado
Temperature:
72°
Umpires:
Home -
Jeff Nelson, 1B -
Cory Blaser, 2B -
Ryan Blakney, 3B -
Doug Eddings
Attendance:
32946
By The Sports Xchange
DENVER -- Position players came and went, pitchers paraded to the mound and the regular-season finale Sunday between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies resembled a Cactus League game.
And it was no more consequential, since both Colorado and Los Angeles are bound for the postseason. But the Dodgers did close the season with a milestone 6-3 win.
It was their 104th regular-season victory, tying for the second-most triumphs in the franchise's long history. When the Dodgers were playing in Brooklyn, they won 105 games in 1953 and 104 games in 1942.
The Dodgers (104-58), who begin a Division Series on Friday against either the Rockies or Arizona Diamondbacks, won 12 of their final 18 games after a 1-15 tailspin that concluded with an 11-game losing streak.
"I think the troubles are over," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "I think the quality of baseball has been better. I know our best baseball is to come. I think right now as we get four days off, we'll be raring to go and I expect us to play great baseball."
Rockies center fielder Charlie Blackmon went 1-for-2, played three innings and finished with a National League-leading .331 average.
Nine Rockies players have won a total of 10 batting titles, including four in the past five years.
After the game, Rockies manager Bud Black made a champagne toast in the clubhouse to Blackmon, who then toasted his teammates, manager and coaches.
"Really cool," said Blackmon, who became the first player in history to lead the majors in hits (213), runs (137), triples (14) and total bases (388) while also hitting 37 homers with 104 RBIs. "I'm not a big stand up in front of everybody kind of guy. But any time you can get such a collection of great men to pause and take a moment, it's pretty special."
Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager went 3-for-3 with a double and one RBI after managing one two-hit game in September when he batted .179 (14-for-78.
"To see Corey get untracked," Roberts said, "it was great for all of us. Even for his psyche, to see the ball hit some outfield grass and to log some hits, I think that's good for any player. "
The third of six Los Angeles pitchers, Kenta Maeda (13-6) pitched two scoreless innings in his fourth relief appearance of the season. Josh Fields earned his second save with a scoreless ninth.
The Rockies also used six pitchers, who issued a combined nine walks.
The Dodgers scored single runs in the first, third and fourth innings. Seager doubled in the first inning against Kyle Freeland (11-11), who made his first start since Sept. 11, and gave up five hits and two runs in three innings.
Seager scored on Cody Bellinger's ground-rule double with two outs. Blackmon lost Bellinger's deep drive in the sun, and the ball hit on the warning track and bounced over the fence.
Enrique Hernandez hit a sacrifice fly in the third with the bases loaded and one out after Seager singled, Justin Turner doubled and Bellinger walked.
In the fourth, an infield single by Seager netted a run. The hit came off Jeff Hoffman after he walked Yasiel Puig and gave up a single to Chris Taylor.
Joc Pederson's second double increased the Dodgers' lead to 6-1 in the seventh. His pinch-hit double scored a run with two outs in the fifth, an inning in which Hoffman issued three walks and Scott Oberg came on and issued a bases-loaded walk to Charlie Culberson, giving the Dodgers a 5-0 lead.
The Rockies (87-75) broke through in the sixth on Ryan Hanigan's run-scoring single with two outs that made it 5-1 and ended Colorado's 12-inning scoreless streak. The hit scored Trevor Story, who led off with a pinch-hit double.
Mike Tauchman tripled home a run in the seventh and scored on Raimel Tapia's double, trimming the Dodgers' lead to 6-3.
The Rockies, who have reached the postseason for the first time since 2009 and the fourth time in their 25-year history, play at Arizona in a winner-take-all wild-card game Wednesday.
"There's no secrets between the Diamondbacks and us," Black said. "We played them obviously 19 times this season. They know us, we know them. It's going to come down to who plays the better game, who pitches well, gets key hits, who makes a play. It should be a really good game."
NOTES: The Rockies drew 2,953,650 fans, their largest attendance at Coors Field since 2001. ... The Rockies switched starters, with LHP Kyle Freeland getting the assignment instead of LHP Tyler Anderson to keep Anderson ready for a long-relief stint if needed in Wednesday's wild-card game at Arizona. ... Dodgers RHP Ross Stripling threw 23 pitches in two scoreless innings, giving him five scoreless innings in his two starts this season. ... Rockies C Ryan Hanigan caught for the first time since he strained his left groin Aug. 20...Dodgers LHP Rich Hill will throw a simulated game Monday and RHP Yu Darvish will do so Wednesday to tune up for their Division Series starts in Game 2 and Game 3, respectively.
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
LA Dodgers
|
10 |
0 |
15 |
.278 |
20 |
4 |
6 |
9 |
0 |
0 |
Colorado
|
10 |
0 |
14 |
.294 |
18 |
7 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
0 |