DENVER – The Dodgers arrived in Colorado four days ago with hopes of asserting their will over the National League West as they have in each of the past five seasons.
They left town Sunday afternoon having lost their closer indefinitely and three consecutive games painfully.
Chris Iannetta drew a five-pitch walk from Dodgers reliever Dylan Floro with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Rockies a 4-3 win over the Dodgers – the Rockies’ third consecutive one-run win and second walkoff.
“Those were heartbreakers, man,” Dodgers right-hander Ross Stripling said in a quiet postgame locker room.
“We’re not going to lie – it is a big blow,” Sunday’s starter Rich Hill said of the series. “It’s something where you just have to regroup.
“Obviously, this is going to be a tough race all the way down to the finish.”
The three-game losing streak dropped the Dodgers out of a share of first place in the National League West. They come home for a brief three-game homestand having fallen a full game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks, and only a half-game up on the third-place Rockies.
A different reliever took each of the losses at Coors Field – Zac Rosscup Friday, J.T. Chargois Saturday and Floro Sunday – as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts tries to make something out of the leftover goulash in his bullpen. But the problem children of the roster weren’t the only ones to blame for the disasters in Denver.
The Dodgers’ offense produced 17 runs in the four games – almost half of them (eight) in the lone win. They hit five home runs in the last three innings of that game, only two more in the next 27 innings.
“Like I’ve said, guys are going to have opportunities to put up zeroes,” Roberts said of the bullpen. “But the bigger thing I think is we’ve got to score runs too. When you’re putting guys in tough spots and tight situations where every game is close and you can’t get any breathing room, it makes it tough on everyone.”
Sunday, they left runners in scoring position in three of the first six innings while being shut out by Rockies starter Chad Bettis and went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position.
The lone hit was a two-out, two-run single by Brian Dozier in the seventh inning. Dozier was on base four times in the game (two walks, two singles) and has been every bit the impact player the Dodgers thought they were acquiring 10 days earlier when they traded for Manny Machado.
Machado came up with runners on base three times Sunday and went hitless. He is batting .261 as a Dodger without an RBI since July 30.
After striking out in the seventh inning Sunday, he snapped the bat over his leg in obvious frustration.
“No. Just part of the game,” Machado said later. “It’s just a long season. Things aren’t going the right way. Just gotta be better.”
After the strikeout, Roberts double-switched Machado out of the game, a maneuver motivated by the lineup. But Roberts acknowledged Machado seems to be pressing.
“I think he’s expanding,” Roberts said. “He’s swinging and missing a lot more than he has in his career. They’re making good pitches on him. But there’s a little bit of overanxiousness in the batter’s box.
“He wants to do well. He sees that we’re not scoring runs and he knows he’s a big part of it.”
It’s a new experience for Machado, being traded to a new team where he is expected to make an impact in a playoff race – not to mention having free agency looming. But he wouldn’t acknowledge feeling any pressure from that.
“Those are excuses to me,” Machado said. “I’ve got to go out there and do my job. Swing at better pitches, that’s all.”
The search for reliable relievers who can do that job continues.
John Axford followed Hill with two perfect innings as the Dodgers tied the game in the eighth.
Roberts gave the ninth inning to Floro.
D.J. LeMahieu led off with a single and went to second when Yasiel Puig fumbled the ball in right field. After a strikeout, David Dahl was intentionally walked. A ground out moved the runners to second and third so the Dodgers intentionally walked Ryan McMahon – the hero of Saturday’s walkoff win for the Rockies.
“It’s one of those things where, again, you try to put guys in the best chance to have success,” Roberts said, replaying his decisions in an inning gone awry for a third consecutive day. “I just felt right there, putting Dahl on base with the open base and getting to (Ian) Desmond was the right move and it worked out.
“You got McMahon who’s swinging the bat well with an open base and you’ve got a guy who really gets right-handers out (Floro) and a guy who doesn’t really hit right-handed pitching (Iannetta).”
Iannetta didn’t have to hit it. Floro fell behind 3-and-1 and missed with a fastball for the walk.
