LOS ANGELES — Defense is one of our strengths, Dave Roberts told a group of students from USC, getting to question the Dodgers manager before Tuesday night’s game.
Maybe it was the unhealthy karma of a Bruin amicably interacting with a group of Trojans, but the Dodgers did not back up Roberts’ words.
Two errors on the infield with reliable veteran Miguel Rojas at the center of both helped fuel a three-run eighth inning as the Colorado Rockies came from behind against the Dodgers’ bullpen for the second night in a row. This time, the National League West’s last-place team took the lead and held it through a rocky ninth inning, beating the Dodgers, 4-3.
“Very uncharacteristic,” Roberts said after the Dodgers’ first home loss to the Rockies since June 2024. “I’m sure he (Rojas) owned it. But it’s baseball. This guy is as dependable as they come, so that it happens.
“We don’t like it. It doesn’t feel good. But that player — I give him a lot of grace, because he is very dependable.”
Leading 3-1 thanks to Shohei Ohtani’s 300th career home run and another strong seven innings from Justin Wrobleski, the Dodgers went to Will Klein for the eighth and he jump-started the Rockies’ rally with a leadoff walk. A one-out single put two runners on when Tyler Freeman’s ground ball to Rojas (giving Mookie Betts the night off at shortstop) had the potential to be an inning-ending double play.
But Rojas misplayed it for an error and Kyle Karros scored to make it a one-run game. Jake McCarthy followed with a sacrifice bunt that scored Cole Carrigg from third. Max Muncy fielded the bunt and threw to second baseman Alex Freeland, covering first base. With third base uncovered, Tyler Freeman rounded second and headed for third.
Rojas was late to cover third base and Freeland’s throw back across the diamond got away from him. The second error of the inning allowed Freeman to score the go-ahead run.
“Obviously, the ground ball, I got the opportunity to catch a ball and make the play and get us out of the inning there,” Rojas recapped. “That’s a physical error, but I’m way more disappointed by the other play when I kind of froze, and I was like all over second base over there, and I shouldn’t be there. I should have been on third base, and we keep the game tied right there, and give us an opportunity to win.
“Physical errors happen, and I’m okay with that. I’m not perfect, and I’m gonna make errors, and physical errors are okay. But mental errors are the ones that are kind of like disappointing. Like I should have been on third base, I shouldn’t be putting Alex Freeland in the situation of throwing the ball with me on the run there. That’s the one that I kind of like myself for.”
The sloppy eighth inning made a mess of a feel-good night for Ohtani and Wrobleski further emphasizing his worthiness of an All-Star selection.
Ohtani wasted no time making his history. He ripped the third pitch he saw from Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen on a line 409 feet over the wall in straightaway center field.
The march to 300 turned into a bullet train over the past two days. The first five balls put in play by Ohtani in the series against the Rockies left his bat with exit velocities of 111.8 mph (a line out Monday), 105.9 mph (home run No. 299), 91.4 mph (a single), 105.8 mph (another single) and 112.8 mph (home run No. 300). Even his fly out in his second at-bat Tuesday qualified as a hard-hit ball by Statcast standards, leaving his bat at 99.4 mph.
Using games in which they had at least one plate appearance as the measure (per Elias Sports), Ohtani reached 300 home runs faster (1,101 games) than all but four players in MLB history – Aaron Judge (953 games), Ralph Kiner (1,086), Ryan Howard (1,091) and Juan Gonzalez (1,093).
But Ohtani stands alone as the first player in major-league history to collect 300 home runs and 100 stolen bases in his first nine seasons.
I just marvel at him every day,” Roberts said. “Three hundred is a big number.”
The Dodgers added a second run in the fifth inning when Lorenzen walked three batters, including Andy Pages with the bases loaded. Lorenzen was his own worst enemy in the sixth inning as well, committing an error on a play at first base. Two outs later, Alex Freeland cashed it in with an RBI single.
That was enough support for Wrobleski, who breezed through the Rockies’ lineup most of the night.
He allowed just one hit in the first four innings but got a break when TJ Rumfield’s ground ball to the right side hit the baserunner for an out. Wrobleski did the work himself in the fifth inning, giving up a bloop single and an infield single with one out then striking out Willi Castro and getting Kyle Karros on a fly out.
The Rockies got to him for a run in the sixth inning but that was all the damage they could manage against Wrobleski, whose ERA for the season (including one relief appearance) dropped to 2.69, eighth-lowest in the National League – all seven pitchers ahead of him on that list have been named to the All-Star team.
Wrobleski went seven innings for the third consecutive start and the seventh time in his 15 starts, striking out nine along the way.
The left-hander acknowledged not being added to the All-Star roster yet has been “disappointing.”
“I mean, yeah I would like to (be selected),” he said then added with a smile. “I would like to know where my All-Star break’s gonna be.
“Yeah, if it happens, great. If it doesn’t happen, some time (off) and just chill for a couple days. Either way, I’m all good.”
After losing a lead Monday night, the Dodgers were able to answer back and win on Dalton Rushing’s walk-off single in the 11th inning on Monday night.
They put the first two runners on in the bottom of the ninth on Tuesday with the top of the lineup coming up. But Rockies reliever Jordan Romano (released by the Angels earlier this season) got Ohtani on a broken-bat pop-up, Pages on a shallow fly to right field and struck out Freddie Freeman.
“We had the right guys at the plate,” Roberts said. “We had first and second base with the top of the order up, and felt good about at least pushing a run across.”
The Dodgers finished the night 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position.