The Colorado Rockies had a 3-1 when the fans at Dodger Stadium sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” but the two-run cushion didn’t turn out to be enough on Monday night.
The bullpen surrendered four runs in the bottom of the seventh, erasing a solid start from Tanner Gordon, who reduced his ERA to 5.85 after only giving up one run in five innings of work.
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While Ezequiel Tovar hit his second homer of the season, the Rockies biggest offensive stat was their 12 strikeouts. Colorado dropped its third straight to fall to 20-35, while the NL West-best Los Angeles Dodgers improved to 34-20.
Gordon gets back on track
Even though the Dodgers had a lot of traffic against Gordon, the 28-year-old found ways out of jams with routine flyballs and other easy outs. Los Angeles saw the leadoff hitter reach base in four of five innings — and two of those were doubles — but Gordon held the Dodgers to a 1-for-9 RISP and stranded five runners.
Despite giving up a double to Shohei Ohtani in his first at-bat, Gordon settled in, striking out three in the first two innings. The Dodgers then struck first in the third when Hyeseong Kim led off with a single and scored when Kiké Hernández doubled in his first at-bat of 2026 after returning from elbow surgery. It looked like it might be a long inning when Gordon walked Ohtani, but Gordon prevented the worst. He got Mookie Betts to fly out, and then Freddie Freeman hit into a double play to keep it at 1-0 L.A.
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That was all the Dodgers could get out of Gordon. After five innings, he kept L.A. to one run on six hits with three strikeouts and no walks to give the Rockies a chance. His strikeouts came against Kyle Tucker, Teoscar Hernandez and Freeman.
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“I thought TG was fantastic tonight — just attacking the strike zone, getting out of jams a couple times, he didn’t waiver,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said after the game. “He was fantastic in his start tonight.”
Bullpen falters with debut exception
Juan Mejia entered the game in relief for the Rockies in the sixth inning and sent the Dodgers down in order.
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But it all fell apart in the seventh. Mejia walked the first two batters to get the hook from Schaeffer.
Brennan Bernardino then came in and — immediately — it got worse when he hit Miguel Rojas to load the bases. It seemed like the Rockies might avoid a big inning when Ohtani grounded into a fielder’s choice and Betts added a sac fly to tie the game. But then Freeman hit a double to score Ohtani and put the Dodgers up 4-3.
“Just a couple of hiccups in the bullpen tonight,” Schaeffer said. “Juan was really good in the sixth. Then the walk-walk to lead off the inning is just — late in the game against a good team in their yard, that’s just not going to work.”
Jaden Hill then entered the game and didn’t fare much better. He surrendered a single to Andy Pages, and L.A. increased its lead to 5-3. The inning finally ended when Hill got Kyle Tucker to line out to Johnston in left field.
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Schaeffer said the best way to respond is to just send Hill and Bernardino back out again because that’s how baseball goes.
“Sometimes that happens. We are learning not to do that and turn those 1-to-2-run games into victories,” Schaeffer said. “We know what it takes, and it’s just a matter of time. Tomorrow, we look to flip the script on them.”
In the eighth, Welinton Herrera made a perfect MLB debut. Called up just earlier in the day, the 22-year-old from the Dominican Republic got Teoscar Hernandez to ground out on his first MLB pitch. He then retired Will Smith on a fly ball and Kim on a ground out.
“That’s pretty much the biggest stage you can make your debut on, Dodger Stadium,” Schaeffer said. “I am extremely happy for him that he got in there and got the first one out of the way. He attacked the strike zone and didn’t look nervous a bit. I am sure he was, but he didn’t look it.”
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Rockies strike in 4th, Tovar breaks HR drought
The Rockies responded to a 1-0 deficit in the third by taking the lead in the fourth. Tyler Freeman started off the inning with a double and moved to third when Troy Johnston hit a comebacker off Emmet Sheehan’s arm that bounced into foul territory over the first baseline.
Willi Castro capitalized with a single to tie the game.
Ezequiel Tovar followed with a sac fly to give Colorado a 2-1 lead.
Tovar struck again in the seventh with his second homer of the year. The 431-foot shot to left-center field was more than just an insurance run. It helped Tovar snap a streak of 187 plate appearances without a homer, the longest slump of his career.
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“Tovi was good. He keeps progressing,” Schaeffer said. “People who watch every day, I hope they see how hard he is trying to make adjustments, and it’s paying off.”
The dinger off Kyle Hurt was also the first run given up by the Dodgers bullpen in 11 games (37 innings), which was the Dodgers longest streak in franchise history.
Outside of the fourth and the seventh, the Rockies offense couldn’t do much against L.A. They were held to seven hits. Hunter Goodman struck out three times and was part of the Rockies No. 1, 2 and 3 hitters who went 0-for-10 in the game. Castro and Tovar each recorded two hits.
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In more bad news on the injury front, TJ Rumfield was hit by a pitch in the right hand in the first inning. He was forced to leave the game and was replaced by Edouard Julien, who went 0-for-2 with a strikeout and walk. After the game, Schaeffer delivered good news that the X-rays came back negative.
Up Next
The Rockies and Dodgers will face off again on Tuesday at 8:10 p.m. MDT. Colorado’s Kyle Freeland (1-5, 7.04 ERA) will match up against Eric Lauer (1-5, 6.69 ERA).
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