The Los Angeles Dodgers (93-63) narrowly escaped with a 6-5 victory over the Colorado Rockies (60-96) on Sunday to maintain their one-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies (92-64) atop the National League standings. Certain victories for certain teams are not always to be celebrated, and that might be the case with this win for the Dodgers over the No. 14 seed in the NL.
Dodgers star RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto got lit up in rare poor start
Do you want the good news or the bad news first? It’s always best to get the bad news out of the way first to pacify it with the good as opposed to the other way around. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, their standout rookie flamethrower Yoshinobu Yamamoto got torched by the Rockies.
Yamamoto just managed to last three innings on the affair, and let Colorado hang four runs on him. There wasn’t a single Rockies slugger who failed to either make contact on a pitch or get walked by the Japanese talent in the first inning. Yamamoto allowed his first batter, Charlie Blackmon to fly out to right field, before letting the ensuing three batters all get on base with two singles and a walk.
Rodgers registered a 2 RBI single as the next batter on and Nolan Jones finished off the inning with a ground out to first that brought Michael Toglia home to balloon the Rockies’ lead to 3-0.
After taking care of business in the second inning, Yamamoto allowed another RBI single in the third which brought the score to 4-0 and his outing to a close shortly after. This marked only the third time that the 26-year-old failed to see north of four innings across 17 starts in 2024, and outside of his disastrous debut against the San Diego Padres on March 21, marked the second-most earned runs he’s conceded in a game on the season.
A show of power from the Dodgers’ vanguards at the plate
There were positives to take away from the win at the end of the day, Yamamoto aside. Dodgers superstar slugger Mookie Betts connected on his 19th home run of the campaign in walk-off fashion. After starting the season off hot with five bombs in his first eight games and six in his first 16, the former 2022 MVP endured a long dry spell where he did not hit another home run for 30 days and was sidelined from June 17 through Aug. 12 with a fractured hand suffered against the Kansas City Royals on June 16.
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Betts seems to be finding his swing at the plate at the right time, as this marked his second homer in as many days. The Dodgers are 14-5 when Betts sends one back into the stands, and that should be music to the Dodgers’ ears with the postseason right around the corner.
Is Shohei Ohtani going for the 60-60 club?
What is seemingly never out of the ordinary is Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani’s dominance on a game-by-game basis. If anyone was thinking that the current frontrunner for this year’s NL MVP award would take his foot off the gas with just over a handful of games left to play, they’ve been sadly mistaken.
It was just another day at the office for the two-time AL MVP as he hit another home run and collected two stolen bases on the affair. It’s nice that he and Betts were clicking on all cylinders with their back-to-back blasts that put the Rockies away in the ninth, but if Ohtani hasn’t already done the impossible in becoming the first player to gain entry into the 50-50 club — scratch that, the first player to even make the club a thing — his homer on Sunday inched him close to the 60-60 club. He is currently sitting on 53 home runs and 55 stolen bases as it stands.
With six games to go, the feat is not impossible for the Japanese talent. It’s safe to say that, while it would be jaw-dropping, the baseball world would not scratch their head if he logged seven more home runs and five more steals in that span. He’s just been that good. As for the implications that his play has on the team, the Dodgers can expect to be carried by their all-world superstar in the postseason.
Looking ahead for the Dodgers’ conclusion to the year
The Dodgers can now look forward to a pair of three-game sets against the San Diego Padres and the Rockies again to end the 2024 campaign. L.A. will hope that third baseman Max Muncy will quickly recover from the upper body soreness he is battling, and that support for their injured pitching staff — chiefly Tony Gonsolin — will deliver when their numbers are called.