The Rockies flunked their Litmus test. Just barely. But this is the big leagues, where they don’t grade on a curve.

The Rockies rallied late, scoring three times in the eighth, sparked by Jordan Beck’s two-run double.

But it wasn’t quite enough. The Dodgers did what they usually do in LoDo, winning 9-7 on a perfect summer evening at Coors Field. An RBI double by Teoscar Hernandez in the ninth off reliever Juan Mejia gave Los Angeles the safety net it needed.

The Dodgers, 4-0 against the Rockies this season after a three-game sweep in L.A. in April, were 6-1 at Coors last season.

The Rockies, 18-61 overall, have yet to win back-to-back games at Coors this season. Their 8-30 record is their worst start at home in franchise history.

Before Tuesday night’s game, interim manager Warren Schaeffer agreed that facing quality teams like the defending World Series champion Dodgers was, indeed, a litmus test.

“I look at this as a game where we didn’t quit until the end,” Schaeffer said after the loss. “I don’t know if we should have won, (because) if you make errors and give them extra outs, you shouldn’t win. Especially (against) the world champs. But I thought we didn’t quit.”

Things started well for the Rockies, but quickly fell apart.

Los Angeles’ six-run fourth inning was a Bleak Street Bummer for Colorado. First baseman Michael Toglia, who had a big night at the plate with three doubles, made two costly fielding errors in the sixth. Plus, his throw to try and nail Will Smith was off line. L.A.’s big blows were Michael Conforto’s three-run homer off a German Marquez hanging knuckle curve that Conforto banged off the second-deck facade in right field, and an RBI double to right by Mookie Betts.

Marquez — who turned his ankle during the fourth inning but said after the game that he should be fine — admitted that he lost his edge.

“I felt like I let that inning get into my mind,” he said. “I felt like I lost a little bit of concentration. They took advantage of those little things.”

The usually sure-handed Toglia committed two errors in a game for just the second time in his career. The first baseman said the first grounder that snuck by his glove took a bad hop, but he said he made a bad throw home to try to nab Smith at the plate.

Schaeffer agreed: “If it’s a good throw, I think he’s out.”

Superstar Shohei Ohtani gave the multitude of blue-clad Dodgers fans in the announced crowd of 36,492 what they were hoping for when he hit an opposite-field, two-run homer to left off Ryan Rolison in the sixth. It was Ohtani’s National League-leading 27th home run. In 15 career games (12 starts) at Coors Field, he’s slashing .390/.429/.763 with five home runs and 16 RBIs.

Marquez, who had put together an impressive run of six starts, dominated Los Angeles for the first three innings, allowing two hits and striking out four. But the fourth began with Freedie Freeman’s grounder going under Toglia’s glove, followed by singles by Smith and Max Muncy to load the bases.

Hernandez’s groundout to second scored a run, and then Toglia chose to throw home on Andy Pages’ grounder. Had Toglia’s throw been online, Smith catcher Hunter Goodman might have tagged Smith out. Instead, the Dodgers’ rally fuse was lit, and Conforto launched his 420-foot homer on Marquez’s 1-1 pitch.

Marquez (3-9, 6.26 ERA) allowed six runs (four earned) on six hits. He struck out six and walked none.

“I thought Marquez pitched well and the first three innings were crisp,” Schaeffer said. “And the fourth innings wasn’t so bad. But you can’t give a good team extra outs, and we gave them extra outs in that inning. Bad things are going to happen when that occurs. But ‘Marky,’ I thought, did a nice job.”

Toglia’s double to right field off of L.A.’s opening pitcher, Jack Dreyer, scored Goodman to give Colorado an early 1-0 lead. Toglia hit another RBI double in the third, off Justin Wrobleski, putting Colorado ahead, 2-0.

Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.

Originally Published: June 24, 2025 at 9:44 PM MDT