Shohei Ohtani extends on-base streak, but Dodgers lose to Rockies

DENVER — The Dodgers found themselves in an unfamiliar place Saturday night.

For the first time in almost a week, the other team had the lead.

After entering play with not only four straight wins, but essentially four consecutive wire-to-wire victories (their only other time trailing recently came briefly in the top of the first inning Tuesday), the Dodgers once again had early control at Coors Field against the Rockies.

But this time, in a 4-3 loss, they failed to stay in front –– in large part, because they couldn’t pull away.

Technically, the game flipped in the bottom of the sixth inning, when the Rockies (8-13) turned a one-run deficit into a one-run lead on Troy Johnston’s two-run double against Dodgers reliever Will Klein; who replaced Emmet Sheehan after his five-inning, two-run start.

The real culprit, though, was the Dodgers’ inopportunistic offense, which couldn’t maintain momentum after getting out of the gates quickly.

The club had two runs two pitches into the contest, after Shohei Ohtani reached on an error and Kyle Tucker drove a two-run blast to right field. They tacked on another in the third, when backup catcher Dalton Rushing hit what was already his fifth home run of the season, despite starting for only the sixth time.

From there, however, the Dodgers (15-5) started squandering chances. They left two runners on in the third. They came up empty after a Freddie Freeman triple in the sixth. They watched Alex Call get picked off to end the seventh. Then, they missed their biggest opportunities in the final two innings.

In the eighth, they left the bases loaded on an inning-ending grounder from Max Muncy.

In the ninth, they got back-to-back two-out hits from Will Smith (who was pinch-hitting) and Ohtani (extending his on-base streak to 50 games), only for Tucker to end his three-hit night with a game-ending flyout. 

Overall, the Dodgers left eight men on base and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

What it means

At the very least, that Ohtani’s historic on-base streak will live to see another day.

Before his ninth-inning single, the two-way star had been aboard twice: Reaching on a bad throw from Johnston on a grounder to first base to lead the game off, then when Colorado catcher Hunter Goodman interfered with his swing in the eighth inning to spark the ultimately wasted bases-loaded opportunity.

However, both of those plays went down as errors –– and, importantly, not at-bats in which Ohtani reached “safely” via either a hit, walk or hit-by-pitch.

Thus, he needed his bouncing grounder to sneak through the right side of the infield in the ninth to run the on-base streak up to the 50-game mark. That is just three shy of the franchise’s Los Angeles record (Shawn Green in 2000) and eight behind Duke Snider for most by a Dodger.

Who’s hot

For only his second time since joining the Dodgers this year, Tucker delivered a three-hit game.

His best came swing came on his two-run homer in the first, when he took a first-pitch swing –– something he has done significantly more often this year –– and clobbered an elevated fastball from Colorado starter Ryan Feltner 435 feet to right field. It was his third homer of the season.

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From there, he added a pair of ground-ball singles in the third and eighth innings.

A nearly flawless night … until he made the final out with two aboard in the ninth.

Alas, Tucker now has a four-game hitting streak and extra-base knocks in each of the last three. He’s still only batting .263 on the season with a .768 OPS. But it’s progress nonetheless.

Who’s not

Teoscar Hernández, whose bat has been almost as cold as the weather since arriving in Denver.

After going 0-for-5 with three strikeouts in Friday night’s win, Hernández turned in another –– and more –– costly 0-for-3 on Saturday, despite drawing a walk to load the bases in the eighth.

He rolled into an inning-ending double-play in the first, struck out with two runners aboard for the final out of the third, then rolled into an unproductive grounder with Freeman at third and one out in the sixth.

Those missed chances added up to hurt the Dodgers

Up next

Temperatures should finally be back in the 70s on Sunday, when the Dodgers and Rockies play an afternoon matinee. Roki Sasaki (0-2, 6.23 ERA) will start for the Dodgers. Michael Lorenzen (1-2, 8.10 ERA) goes for Colorado.