Rockies vs Dodgers Recap: Dodgers roll to 4-1 win

The Colorado Rockies walked into Dodger Stadium needing to bounce back hard. They'd lost five straight games and were struggling badly this season with a record of 20-37. Los Angeles had won five in a row and sat at 36-20, hungry to keep rolling. The night before, the Dodgers crushed Colorado 15-6 in a slugfest that left little doubt who the better team was. But baseball surprises you sometimes. This game would be different—tighter, more tense. The Dodgers struck first with lightning speed. Shohei Ohtani stepped up against Tomoyuki Sugano and faced a 93-mile-per-hour fastball. He connected hard. The ball rocketed over center field for 424 feet. The scoreboard lit up: 0-1 Dodgers. Then Freddie Freeman walked up next. Another fastball came in. Freeman crushed it to left-center—378 feet of pure power. Two swings, two homers, and the Dodgers led 0-2 before Colorado even got a chance to bat.

Colorado finally got their chance in the fourth inning. Willi Castro stepped up with two outs and runners in scoring position. Ohtani was pitching for the Dodgers and threw a hard 97-mile-per-hour fastball. Castro made contact. The ball bounced to second base as a ground ball. It wasn't a hit, but something better happened for Colorado. Rumfield raced home from third base. The Rockies cut it to 1-2. The momentum shifted a tiny bit in Colorado's favor. But the Dodgers answered right back. In the bottom of the fourth, Sugano faced Alex Call. Call connected on a sweeper pitch and lined a single to left. That brought Hyeseong Kim racing home from third. The ball had barely landed when Call was standing on first base. Los Angeles extended their lead to 1-3. The Dodgers were controlling the game. Every inning felt like they had another answer ready.

The eighth inning brought another burst of Dodgers offense. Andy Pages stepped to the plate against Antonio Senzatela. Pages had been swinging a hot bat all season for Los Angeles. Senzatela threw a 93-mile-per-hour cutter. Pages waited for his pitch. He found it and ripped a home run to left field—352 feet of pure thunder. The ball cleared the wall and the crowd roared. The Dodgers led 1-4, and that was all they would need. Colorado couldn't answer back. Tomoyuki Sugano had pitched well early but couldn't hold the line. The Rockies' lineup never found its rhythm against the Dodgers' pitching. Ohtani was brilliant on the mound, allowing zero hits through six innings with seven strikeouts. The final score was Los Angeles 4, Colorado 1. The Dodgers improved to 36-20 and stayed rolling strong. Colorado fell to 20-37, sinking deeper into a tough season.