DENVER — As Teoscar Hernández popped up from his slide across home plate, Mookie Betts retreated to first applauding.
While the long ball had been the key to the Dodgers’ earlier offensive success Wednesday, keeping it simple unlocked their 10th-inning push. And in the Dodgers’ 6-4 victory Wednesday, it was Betts’ third hit of the night, a low line drive through the middle of the infield, that widened the Dodgers’ lead to two runs.
“It was huge,” Betts said of completing the three-game sweep in Colorado. “Winning every ball game is important, especially now with the playoff race. Every game is important.”
The trip to hitter-friendly Mile High City, and a matchup against the last-place team in the NL West, came at the perfect time for the Dodgers, ending a collective slump. They’d just dropped three of four to the Brewers at Dodger Stadium, in what had already been a rough start to August.
“Obviously, we haven’t played our best baseball lately,” utility player Kiké Hernández said. “And as a good team, as a team that’s leading the division, … the teams at the bottom of the standings, you need to beat those guys.”
Now, the Dodgers just have to find a way to carry the momentum back to Los Angeles.
“Just keep our confidence,” Betts said. “Sometimes there’ll be a stretch in a game where we may have a couple bad innings. But just to keep our confidence and know that we can do it, we showed this series that we can. Really just hanging our hat on that and not worrying about the negative things.”
On Wednesday, Betts and Kiké Hernández powered the offense with home runs in the fourth inning for a combined three runs, breaking out of individual ruts. Betts had gone 3-for-23 in his previous six games. Hernández, battling irregular playing time, hadn’t had a hit in a week and a half (0-for-7).
“Just say screw it, you know?” Hernández said. “Just, it can’t get any worse than how it’s been going. Pitcher could have thrown the rosin bag at me for the last couple of days, and I would have swung at it.”
Right fielder Kyle Tucker had been in such a bad slump that Tuesday afternoon, before he snapped a 0-for-26 skid, Manager Dave Roberts had pondered whether to sit him Wednesday, with Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland on the mound.
Roki Sasaki had a solid start Wednesday for the Dodgers against the Rockies.
(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
Roberts decided to play him, and Tucker recorded his first multi-hit game in two weeks, notching a pair of singles and two hard line outs in a two-for-five night.
“I liked Kyle’s energy [Tuesday],” Roberts said before the game. “I think the easy thing for me to do is to not play him. But for me, what I can do, a way of showing support, is by playing him. And there are days where I feel like he needs a day, but I think that Kyle’s in a good head space. I want him to play tonight. And I think he gives us the best chance to win.”
The thin air makes Coors Field a difficult place to pitch. Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki even flew in Tuesday to mitigate the physical effects of adjusting to the altitude for a full series — not to mention the pollen in the air, and the stomach bug/food poisoning that forced catcher Hunter Feduccia to exit Tuesday’s game abruptly to puke in the dugout.
Still, Sasaki held the Rockies to two runs through five innings, continuing an impressive second-half stretch.
Of the seven hits he gave up, four were doubles into Coors Field’s expansive outfield. That included a two-run knock from Adel Amador in the fourth inning. Left fielder Teoscar Hernández took an awkward route to the deep line drive, which flew just out of reach as he tried to change directions.
“It was a misread,” Roberts said after the game. “Here at altitude, line drives stay in the air longer, balls stay in the air longer, and he took a direct line to the ball, and it got over his head.”
The Dodgers took a step toward fixing their bullpen issues, too. With Edwin Díaz (neck inflammation) on the IL, lefty Tanner Scott has stepped into the closer role.
On Wednesday, after Freddie Freeman’s sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th inning gave the Dodgers the lead, and Betts’ RBI single added insurance, Scott retired the side in order in the bottom half of the inning. He had his second save in as many nights.
“A week ago we were in a dark place,” Roberts said. “And it was just good to see us come back this series and play the way we’re capable of. … [This weekend] I just want to see that same intent offensively, defensively on the bases that we saw this series.”
Good news for Edwin Díaz
The imaging Díaz underwent in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning revealed a “best-case scenario,” Roberts said before the series finale against the Rockies.
“There were no findings, so that was good,” Roberts said. “MRI was clean. It doesn’t change the fact that he had this sensation in his neck. But I think to keep working on it, give it some rest as far as throwing the baseball.”
Díaz officially went on the IL for “neck inflammation,” but early theories on the injury, before he went to a specialist on Wednesday, suggested the issue could be related to the area around the trapezius, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.
Roberts said Wednesday that the results suggested the injury was more muscular, rather than nerve related.
“I think he’d been feeling the tightness in his neck,” Roberts said. “But I think where it went to the other night, he hadn’t felt that sensation. So that’s what really checked him up.”
Roberts said he didn’t know exactly how long Díaz would be shut down from throwing, but he estimated that it probably would be only a couple of days.
The bullpen shuffle continued Wednesday, when the Dodgers activated right-hander Brock Stewart (right shoulder discomfort) from the 15-day IL. In a corresponding move, they designated right-hander Jonathan Hernández for assignment.