Gavin Stone, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and the Dodgers shut out Rockies 4-0
Los Angeles Dodgers #35 Gavin Stone (RHP) held the Colorado Rockies scoreless in five innings. Photo by Scott Kurtz/TGSportstv1
LOS ANGELES, CA - Gavin Stone (W,6-2) pitched five innings of baseball, and allowed only four hits and had six strikeouts as the Los Angeles Dodgers (38-23), 1st in the NL West, shut out the Colorado Rockies (21-37), 5th in the NL West 4-0 at Dodgers Stadium.
Stone, playing in his second year with the Dodgers, has a 290 ERA.
"You know, it's fun to watch him grow and mature," manager Dave Roberts said. "His poise, his commanding of the baseball, the way he kind of attacks hitters and acquires strike one … he's just built that trust with everyone that when he takes the mound, you expect to win."
The Rockies starting pitcher Austin Gomber (L, 1-3) pitched 3.0 innings and gave up five hits, three runs, and two home runs to the Dodgers.
Los Angeles Dodgers #50 Mookie Betts (SS) going around the bases after his lead-off solo home run in the bottom of the first inning. Photo by Scott Kurtz/TGSportstv1.
Mookie Betts, now at short-stop, came out of his hitting slump after going 0-for-14, and his last home run was on May 19, in the span of 12 games at 53 at-bats, gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning with a lead-off home run (32) over the left-field wall, which is a franchise-record.
The Dodgers would go up 2-0 with a solo home run by Freddie Freeman over the center-field wall.
"We needed it," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "I think Mookie's been really relieved to hit a ball [out of] the ballpark. Freddie, obviously has been kind of in it for a while. And so for him to go deep today was really good for him."
One of the hottest hitters in baseball, Shohei Ohtani, had three at-bats and no hits during the game.
The Rockies trailed 3-0 in the bottom of the third inning when the Dodgers Miguel Rojas hit a line drive to left field, and Freeman scored.
The Dodgers would score their last run of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning after Freeman hit a sacrifice fly-ball to center-field that allowed Jason Haywood to come home and score, making the final score 4-0, as the Dodgers took 2 of the 3-game series before hitting the road for a three-game series against the Pirates and Yankees.