Walker Buehler struck out 11 over six innings, and Corey Seager drove in two runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers became the first major league team to reach 20 victories by knocking off the visiting Colorado Rockies 5-1 on Friday.
The Dodgers (20-8) have won nine of their past 10 games overall and five consecutive at home. The Rockies (13-13) have lost five straight and eight of their past nine.
Buehler (1-0) gave up one run on four hits with no walks while delivering his first double-digit strikeout game of the season. It was his most strikeouts in a game since he also had 11 on Sept. 10, 2019, at Baltimore.
After not having a double-digit strikeout performance all season, the Dodgers have two consecutive. Clayton Kershaw fanned 11 in a 6-1 win over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday.
The Dodgers' Cody Bellinger continued to emerge from his slow start, collecting two hits and an RBI against the Rockies after hitting home runs in each of his two previous games.
Rockies starter Jon Gray (1-3) lasted just 3 2/3 innings, giving up four runs on seven hits with two walks and no strikeouts.
The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI double from Bellinger and upped the advantage to 2-0 quickly in the fourth inning. AJ Pollock led off with a double, and Matt Beaty followed with an RBI single.
Los Angeles chased Gray four batters after Beaty's RBI hit when Seager ripped a two-run double to right field.
Buehler cruised into the sixth inning when he finally ran into trouble. The Rockies put together three consecutive one-out singles, scoring their first run on Trevor Story's RBI hit.
With two outs and two aboard in the inning, Nolan Arenado hit a deep fly ball to right field that Joc Pederson caught near the foul pole for the third out, preserving the 4-1 lead. It was Buehler's last batter of the game.
An Austin Barnes sacrifice fly boosted the Dodgers' lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the sixth.
Four Dodgers pitchers combined to give up just four hits while striking out 14 and walking none. Just one Dodgers batter struck out: Max Muncy in the seventh inning.
--Field Level Media
Colorado | LA Dodgers | |
Jon Gray | Player | Walker Buehler |
Loss | W/L | Win |
3.2 | IP | 6.0 |
0 | Strikeouts | 11 |
7 | Hits | 4 |
9.82 | ERA | 1.50 |
Colorado | LA Dodgers | |
Drew Butera | Player | Cody Bellinger |
1 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 0 |
1 | TB | 3 |
.500 | Avg | .667 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Colorado | 4 | 0 | 4 | .129 | 5 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
LA Dodgers | 10 | 0 | 15 | .323 | 19 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 |