Dodgers Team News

Dodgers Hot Hitters Power 10-6 Win Over Colorado Rockies

Cody Bellinger took his hot-hitting ways to the mile-high city as the Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies 10-6 to start their first road trip of the 2019 season. Even with Kenta Maeda (5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 SO) struggling to find his grip on the mound, the Dodgers’ top-ranked offense in MLB took advantage of the thin air in Colorado.

Higher Altitude, More Runs

Bellinger is showing signs of the player the Dodgers drafted him to be, as his bat is swinging through the strike zone with more contact and power. In his sixth home run this season, it plated three runs to extended the Dodgers lead over the Rockies, 6-1.



Prior to Bellinger’s home run in the fifth inning, Justin Turner and Corey Seager showed signs of their bats coming to life. Seager (2 H, 1 BB, 1 RBI) brought in the first run of the game with a line drive single to center in the third inning, while Turner (2 H, 1 RBI) scorched a two-run double into right-center field.

With the thin air in Colorado, most of the Dodgers’ starting lineup contributed to the 10 runs on 13 hits. In the 13 L.A. hits, one of them wasn’t a double by Max Muncy — who was shy of a double to complete the cycle.

Shaky Pitching in Late Innings

Brock Stewart, much like the rest of the Dodgers’ bullpen, can’t catch a break. In 2/3 of an inning pitched, Stewart gave up three runs on the bat of a Trevor-Story home run. In each of his three appearances this season, so far, Stewart has given up at least two earned-runs. His ERA sits at 18.00.

Joe Kelly entered the game to close out the Dodgers 10-4 lead, but was promptly removed after he took a sharp ground ball that seemingly got a piece of his pitching hand. Yimi Garcia took over for Kelly and promptly gave up solo home runs to David Dahl and Trevor Story.

Garcia’s shaky outing led to closer Kenley Jansen lightly beginning to warm up in the bottom of the 9th, but thankfully he did not have to enter the game.

Next up

Walker Buehler (0-0, 15.00 ERA) takes on Jon Gray (0-1, 4.05 ERA) at 5pm.

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23 Comments

  1. Most impressive part of yesterdays win, for me, Maeda loaded the bases with NOBODY out, then had to face Arenado……….and he only gave up ONE run. Nice!

  2. Not trying to be Debbie downer with things going so well right now…………..but Chris Taylor……….WHY haven’t the Dodgers addressed this guys propensity to strike out and started holding him accountable some how? Pederson is just sitting out games so Taylor can play and Taylor keeps taking these horrible at bats……….ANNOYING! With everyone else playing so well, guess it doesn’t stick out for them like it does to me.

    1. I agree with you bluz1st. Why taylor continues to play, he has become since last year an automatic out. Before this season I was certain our catching tandem of Barnes/Martin was an “auto-out” with the pitcher’s spot afterwards. Taylor repeatedly “swings for the fences,” when I see Taylore at-bat, I say “c’mon Taylor run into one,” hoping he doesn’t strike-out(at-least put the ball in play. I’ve been disappointed.

      1. You make a good point about the Barnes/Martin thing……..I was feeling the same way about them hitting after Taylor as you do…….but so far, Barnes and Martin have done well………Taylor is automatic out waiting to happen….it’s like having two pitchers in the lineup……..after leading the entire LEAGUE in striking out just last season, one would think Taylor would be ashamed of himself.

        1. Additonal comment on Taylor. When the Dodgers hired Robert Von Scoyoc, I thought I read somewhere that he was Taylor’s hitting coach that altered his stroke to this “launch-angle” approach. I believe this approach is Taylor’s problem, he is Not a power-hitter. He should be that base-hit, high batting avg., use his better-than-average speed on the basepaths. Thank you for letting me vent.

          1. Robin and bluz1st, you might also know that these lineup decisions with Taylor and Joc are coming from Andy himself. Because if I were manager and KNEW it was my decision alone as far as line up construction, ( with input from my coaches) Taylor would not be in there but our views don’t count. this is how Dodgers do these things, hot hand or no hot hand at the time.

    2. Bluz1st, I concur here as far as Joc is concerned because they are doing what they did last year with this L-R-l-R match ups no matter who was swing the bat well and this strategy will not ultimately get us a WS ring.

      1. Hi Paul!……I don’t think Friedman is making the call on lineups/who plays/starts and who does not……..that is Roberts job. (Just my opine). I hear a ton of Dodger fans say, that but I just do not believe that it’s true.

        1. Well, some writers have also implied that to be the case and there is daily ‘collaboration’ for sure. In any event, Joc, as we all know has struggled against LHP for 5 years, but look at what Bellinger did in the off season because he KNEW his struggles against them 2018 were not acceptable to himself or the team.. He worked on things in the off season and look how he’s doing now against them. Since he’s been here Bellinger has hit 20 HR’s so far against LHP.. Well, IMHO Joc’s great start in the first 4 games this year does warrant him at least a start once in a while against lefties. I mean he will NEVER improve if he NEVER will have any more chances against them. And of course many are seeing Taylor simply pick up where he left off in 2018 by striking out a ton, especially with RISP.

  3. “I don’t know what the pace is,” chuckled third baseman Justin Turner, whose Dodgers added three more taters to the season tally and have now homered in all eight of their games. “But the boys are swinging the bats good, I know that.” ………….Justin Turner on the Dodgers home run binge and blow out of the Rocks yesterday.

  4. Two things: With any luck Brock Stewart is already on the bus to Oklahoma with a one-way ticket. Also, it is not necessary to replace Pederson / Verdugo with Taylor just because there is a lefty on the mound. To Roberts’ credit be hit for Taylor with Pederson when there was a pitching change to a right hander.

  5. This comment pertains to Joc Pederson. In the four games the Dodgers have faced a LHP – 3(Giants),1(Rockies), he has gone 0-5 with 2-strikeouts. (Crossing-fingers)Pederson hasn’t forgot how to hit especially in thin air of Denver. I truly believe he Has to be in the game(day-in-day-out) or he loses it(becomes ice-cold). After Rockies, the Dodgers go to St.Louis(opposite of Denver). As far as the bull-pen I get scared when Stewart, Garcia, Kelly come in. Not sure if Kimbrel(expensive) is the answer. How about bringing-up one of the AAA guys, won’t cost as much as Kimbrel. Couldn’t be as bad as what Dodgers fans have seen from the pen this year.

    1. Robin………Joc will be fine…….Roberts does not seem to realize it, but Pederson needs to play everyday…….in essence Davey boy has cooled him off by sitting him out the last few games so Taylor could play……too bad, Joc was en fuego….The relief answer here IMO is Dustin May or Dennis Santana…..we don’t need a high priced free agent, just another effective reliever….I’m hoping that eventually the Dodgers will figure this reliever problem out. It killed us last year and I thought they had realized it, but maybe not………

      1. bluz1st, I’ve seen Pederson’s numbers against LHP over 5yrs, he struggles. Bat Kike lead-off against LHP, but have Pederson bat lower in-the-lineup, 6-7-8. Pick your poison, Taylor striking out or Pederson striking out, lol, what’s the difference.

          1. Well, were you and Robin really surprised at the way Roberts and his puppet mater from above have stopped Joc in his tracks by sitting him after his great start just because of 4 subsequent LHP? I am not because I KNEW they would do this. Another Writer from this blog has decided that Joc, as we know, has not done well against LHP for a long time now and they implied that he never will. Well my answer to that is… it’s very early in the 2019 season and there is no and i mean NO reason to not at the very least give Joc some games to play every day for a while against all comers. He knows (Joc) that he has struggled against LHP but we will never get to see if he is able to correct this if he NEVER gets to play against them!

    1. NODH I would not have had Garcia in our BP to begin with. Are you or is anyone here surprised by what Garcia has done so far? (HR generosity)
      I am not in the least, and same for Baez.

      1. I can’t believe Stewart and Garcia are still around. It was evident years ago that they suck. They will be gone soon and replaced by stripling and urias. The bp should be fine after that as Stewart and Garcia have given up the bulk of the runs not counting Kelly

  6. Hello there to all here or not here. Dodgers lead the NL with 21 HR’s now and Dbacks are next with 19. But here is an issue as far as I am concerned…only the Cubs and Dback’s pitching has allowed more than the Dodger’s 15 HR’s given up by the the pitching. That might be cause for concern later as we go into the season, as we cannot expect this type of HR barrage every game, and we know that the BP is the culprit here for the most part. So with this win on Friday, it may be a good thing Dodgers have hit 21 so far because if not, our record would not be 6 and 2 to begin the year.

  7. Yes, we got the win yesterday in the opening of a 3 game series with the Rox. And yes, we put on a powerful display of home runs for all to admire. Now lets look again : the BP continues to erode right before our eyes, especially Baez and Garcia who are are taking up valuable space on this team;
    Maeda was up to 66 pitches in the third inning before he settled down – this bothers me quite a bit, and makes we wonder if Maeda should not be moved to the BP, and Baez or Garcia are demoted; and finally, glad to see that Paul covered the topic above : our pitching staff is giving up homeruns at an incredible pace. Very scary goings on!!!!!! Go Blue!!!

  8. PaulDodgerFan1965, pertaining to Pederson, I was Not surprised that he would Not start against the 4-consecutive LHPs. Look at Joc now, he was 0-4 Sunday night’s game, overall 0-12,13. Basically, he’s starting over(spring training). Is it just me or is Pederson’s swing too mechanical/clunky, compare his swing to Bellinger, Griffey or most left-handed hitter(not smooth)? The Cardinals are scheduled to start 4-RHPs against the Dodgers and with Pederson cold, I wouldn’t be surprised if he went 0-4 with multiple Ks in some of the games vs. Cards.

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