Michael Conforto had his best game yet with the Dodgers, fueling another big inning against Germán Márquez. In a sense of déjà vu, Los Angeles held off another Rockies comeback to win 9-7 on Tuesday night at Coors Field in Denver.
It’s been a brutal first half for the Dodgers left fielder, below replacement level by multiple measurements. Josh Thomas had an illuminating article at Dodgers Digest on Monday about how Conforto not pulling the ball enough was killing his season, so naturally his first two at-bats on Tuesday was a double to right field and a three-run home run into the right field seats, giving the Dodgers the lead.
“To pull the ball in the air today with something behind it today was big for me,” Conforto told Kirsten Watson after the game on the SportsNet LA broadcast. “That’s definitely a good thing, and hopefully a lot more of that to come.”
Tuesday was the first multi-hit game in four weeks for Conforto. Three runs batted in matched his total for the previous 12 games.
Márquez held the Dodgers scoreless through three innings, struck out six and walked none in his start, looking much better of late. It was a far cry from his nightmare seven-run, two-out start in Los Angeles on April 16. But the big inning came again for the Dodgers against Márquez with six runs in the fourth.
Michael Toglia, who drove home the Rockies first two runs with RBI doubles in the first and third innings, had a nightmare inning of his own during the fourth, making two errors at first base plus a bad throw home on a seemingly sure out.
Toglia doubled again in the fifth inning, which lead to another Rockies run, but that was it in another strong outing by Justin Wrobleski. After opener Jack Dreyer allowed a run in the first inning, Wrobleski struck out a career-high seven against two walks in his five innings, allowing only the single runs in the third and fifth. Since getting called back up to the majors, Wrobleski has a 3.54 ERA with 20 strikeouts and five walks in 20⅓ innings.
Shohei Ohtani added an opposite-field two-run shot in the sixth inning, his second straight game with a home run, and National League-leading 27th of the season.
Ohtani’s home run gave the Dodgers a five-run lead, but just like all three games at Dodger Stadium in April, the Rockies weren’t finished. A single run in the seventh inning off Kirby Yates was followed by three off Anthony Banda in the eighth, the latter two scoring on a two-run single off Tanner Scott to pull Colorado to within a run.
Dodgers vs. Rockies in LA
April 14: Dodgers led 4-0, won 5-3
April 15: Dodgers led 5-0, won 6-2
April 16: Dodgers led 7-1, won 8-7 (Márquez’s other start against them)
Teoscar Hernández doubled home Max Muncy in the top of the ninth for some insurance, and Scott worked around another single to finish off the ninth inning for his first save longer than an inning this season.
Tuesday particulars
Home runs: Michael Conforto (5), Shohei Ohtani (27)
WP — Justin Wrobleski (3-2): 5 IP, 5 runs, 2 runs, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts
LP — Germán Márquez (3-9): 4 IP, 6 hits, 6 runs (4 earned), 6 strikeouts
Sv — Tanner Scott (16): 1⅓ IP, 2 hits
Up next
One more night game in this series comes on Wednesday (5:40 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA), with Yoshinobu Yamamoto making his second career start at Coors Field against rookie right-hander Chase Dollander.