09 September, 2017
Their 92-48 record is still baseball's best, but they continue to founder with the playoffs approaching.
The Rockies (75-65) moved three games and a big sigh ahead of the Cardinals and Brewers in the National League wild-card chase, and seven behind the Diamondbacks.
Roberts said Kershaw's pitch count was a factor in his early exit. He was knocked around by the Padres on the road his last start, allowing five earned runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and three walks over three innings in a 7-2 loss.
Instead, he got yanked after 86 pitches.
"We made him work", Rockies manager Bud Black said. For the first time in Major League Baseball history, there are two teams carrying 12-plus-game winning streaks at the same time.
Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw (16-3, 2.15 ERA) had another rocky outing, lasting just 3.2 innings and surrendering four runs on six hits and three walks.
"You know what Winston Churchill said, don't you?" He hopes to take that progress into Los Angeles, where he struck out 10 batters in a 2016 start. "A few weeks ago it seemed like there was nothing we could do to lose a game".
"Bad nights are going to happen pitching-wise", Kershaw said.
"I was not great", continued Kershaw. After Charlie Blackmon singled and DJ LeMahieu doubled, Arenado cashed them in with a three-run blast to left.
18 of Buehler's 26 pitchers were strikes.
Kershaw found trouble again in the third.
Kershaw slammed his glove into the dugout wall and yelled before sitting down with his head bowed. We've seen teams lose big division leads in September in the past, and the Dodgers could author one of the most stupefying collapses in the game's history if things don't change. "We won that many games in a row for a reason and we played that well for that long for a reason".
The Dodgers have been so historically good for most of the season that their mini-slide can be overlooked for one more week, but how far can the Indians and Diamondbacks climb up the weekly MLB Power Rankings?
The Rockies increased their lead to 6-1 in the fifth on a passed ball by Yasmani Grandal and Lucroy's RBI single.
When the game's third batter, Nolan Arenado, hit a three-run home run into the Dodgers' bullpen, the damage was done. LeMahieu extended his hitting streak to 16 games.
The Dodgers lone run of the game came on a couple of doubles from Cody Bellinger and Yasiel Puig in the bottom of the fourth inning. He topped 100 miles per hour a couple times on the radar gun.
"I was just not very good", a visibly frustrated Kershaw said after the game. Rockies C Ryan Hanigan (left groin strain) was activated from the 10-day disabled list, while CF Ramiel Tapia was recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque. The Rockies quickly turned a 4-1 deficit into a 5-4 lead.
New York Yankees 9 Baltimore Orioles 1: The Yankees claim their series in Baltimore with a 4-home run performance, including number 39 this season for Aaron Judge, a 2-run homer with 2 outs in the 1st inning. In five starts since being traded to the Dodgers, he is 2-2 with a 4.50 so he has been less than stellar.
