Rockies drop series as losing ways against Dodgers continue

No, “I Love L.A.” didn’t blare out of the Coors Field speakers Thursday afternoon. But that didn’t keep the Dodgers from feeling right at home. Per usual.

Behind a strong start from rookie right-hander Gavin Stone and homers from the top three hitters in their lineup — All-Stars Shohei Ohtani, Will Smith and Freddie Freeman — the Dodgers beat the Rockies, 5-3, to clinch the four-game series.

“Even without Mookie, that lineup is still ridiculous,” Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon said, referring to Dodgers injured star shortstop Mookie Betts. “Their first four hitters are all MVP contenders. It’s a really good lineup, but honestly, I think we played them pretty tough.”

But not tough enough.

Since 2018, Los Angeles is 74-33 vs. Colorado. During Colorado’s ongoing six-season losing streak, dating back to 2019, Los Angeles is 29-16 at Coors.

Down 5-0 after five innings, the Rockies made a game of it, and McMahon had an All-Star kind of day. In the sixth, he channeled his inner Brooks Robinson, digging out Miguel Rojas’ grounder down the third-base line and rocketing a throw to first to get Rojas by a half-step.

“I practice that play every day,” McMahon said. “It was a slow, top-spinner down the line. It wasn’t hit that hard, but getting to the ball took me kind of far (away). But I practice that throw every day. I have confidence in myself, and I chucked it over there.”

McMahon led off the eighth with a 462-foot blast to the second deck above the bullpens in right field to cut the lead to 5-3. McMahon turned on lefty Alex Vesia’s 2-0 fastball for his team-high 13th homer.

McMahon’s moon shot was the Rockies’ longest homer of the season and the fifth-longest of his career. He owns four of Colorado’s five longest home runs this season.

Stone dominated Colorado for the first five innings, however, allowing no runs on three hits. He lost his mojo in the sixth, issuing a leadoff walk to Sean Bouchard, a one-out walk to Michael Toglia and a single to Elehuris Montero to load the bases.

Manager Dave Roberts saw the writing on the wall and replaced Stone with Blake Treinen, who promptly gave up a two-run single to Jake Cave. The Dodgers’ big lead had been cut to 5-2.

Stone took the Coors Field mound for the first time on a terrific roll. Over his previous nine starts, he was 6-1 with a 2.06 ERA.

“He’s got a good changeup and good location with the fastball with enough velocity,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “And he’s able to pitch down, and also pitch up effectively.”

Rockies veteran left-hander Ty Blach is a pitch-to-contact pitcher. Sometimes, his style works, and sometimes, it doesn’t. Thursday, it most definitely did not.

The Dodgers blasted Blach for five runs on 10 hits, including the solo homers by Ohtani to lead off the game and back-to-back blasts by Smith and Freeman in the fourth.

Blach entered the game with a solid track record against the Dodgers, going 4-3 with a 3.13 ERA in 20 appearances (nine starts). Blach’s ERA was the eighth-lowest against the Dodgers among all active pitchers (minimum 50 innings).

But as Black pointed out, Blach’s track record doesn’t include many innings against the likes of Ohtani and Freeman, who are relatively new to the Dodgers’ lineup. Mostly, Black said, Blach lacked command on key pitches during Thursday’s game.

“I would say that’s a pretty fair assessment,” Blach said. “I didn’t quite get inside on Smith. The pitch to Ohtani wasn’t terrible; honestly, I didn’t think he hit it that good. But he got it. And the pitch to Freddie (Freeman) was a breaking ball that just didn’t get away from him enough.”