Nor could the Dodgers keep up offensively at the hitter-friendly park \u2014 though they put some pressure on in the ninth inning, when Shohei Ohtani led off with a ground-rule double and the Dodgers scored twice to cut the lead to three runs. Then the new guy, Ryan Ward, made the final out in his big league debut, robbed of a hit and a chance to keep chipping away by a diving Troy Johnston in right field.<\/p>\n
Before that, the Rockies \u2014 who beat the Dodgers twice in 13 meetings all of last season \u2014 chased starter Roki Sasaki from the game in the fifth inning and then ruffled the Dodgers\u2019 relievers. That included closer Edwin D\u00edaz, who came on in the eighth and promptly gave up three singles, a walk and two runs before being pulled with the Dodgers trailing 8-4.<\/p>\n
![\"Dodgers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776652336_833_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki gave up three runs on seven hits in 4-2\/3 innings Sunday against the Rockies in Denver.<\/p>\n
(David Zalubowski \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
He and Blake Treinen combined to face eight batters without getting an out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey both weren\u2019t sharp,\u201d said manager Dave Roberts, who had theories but not many answers \u2014 though he did have real concern, especially about D\u00edaz, who recently had his right knee checked out by the medical staff.<\/p>\n
Roberts said the closer wanted to pitch after nine days off, even though it wasn\u2019t a save situation. But his velocity was slightly down (95.4 mph vs. 95.8) and so, \u201ctoday was a tough evaluation,\u201d the manager said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really was,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cBecause, you know, I know what it\u2019s supposed to look like, and when it doesn\u2019t look like that, it gets a little concerning, really.\u201d<\/p>\n
And losing for the second time to the Rockies, who are now 9-13? Being in danger of losing their four-game series, after arriving in Denver without having lost to a National League opponent, against a club that hasn\u2019t made the postseason since 2018?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s well below the bar the Dodgers have set, and it added a bitter note to Ward\u2019s otherwise sweet debut.<\/p>\n
Ward punched a big league clock for the first time wearing No. 67 and cranked his first hit off Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen in the fourth inning, lining a changeup to right field for a single that scored Andy Pages, made it 3-0 and got the 20-some members of Ward\u2019s party up, jumping in place, hugging and high-fiving.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was on first base, I got to see them all jumping around up there,\u201d Ward said. \u201cThat was a pretty special moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also singled in the sixth and swung on the first pitch in his first at-bat, a fly out in the third inning.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers gave Sasaki a 2-0 lead in the third. Alex Freeland drove in Hyeseong Kim, and Shohei Ohtani doubled in Freeland \u2014 and extended his career-best on-base streak to 51 games, moving past Willie Keeler into third place in Dodgers history.<\/p>\n
Sasaki went 4-2\/3 innings, threw 78 pitches and gave up three runs on seven hits, striking out two and walking two. His ERA after his fourth start: 6.11, worst in the six-man rotation.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers fell behind 6-4 in the seventh when Treinen \u2014 who was cleared Friday after he was struck in the head by a batted ball during batting practice \u2014 gave up four consecutive hits, including a two-run home run by Mickey Moniak.<\/p>\n
The result likely will be a minor detail when Ward tells the story years from now about getting the call after first baseman Freddie Freeman was placed on the paternity list.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers\u2019 No. 19 prospect and reigning Pacific Coast League MVP spent the last seven years in the minors. Last season, he hit 36 home runs and drove in 122 runs with a .937 on-base-plus-slugging percentage for triple-A Oklahoma City, and he has a 1.020 OPS and four homers this year.<\/p>\n
Ward made it a point to improve his chase rate, draw more walks and get on base more frequently, everything the Dodgers asked of him. He also passed the broadest patience test.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plate discipline, being a better hitter \u2026 he\u2019s done all that,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cHe\u2019s improved his defense. But honestly, for me, just not to let his lack of opportunity in the big leagues deter him. That\u2019s easy when you get frustrated and let it affect performance, and he hasn\u2019t done that.\u201d<\/p>\n
If anything, Ward said, the waiting made him better.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used it to keep going. \u2018OK, if I\u2019m not there yet, what do I have to do to get there?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201c\u2018What part of my game do I need to work on to keep getting better?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI used it as fire to keep working.\u201d<\/p>\n
That will be the Dodgers\u2019 assignment too.<\/p>\n
In the finale of the four-game series Monday, the Dodgers are expected to start left-hander Justin Wrobleski (2-0, 2.12) against Colorado left-hander Jose Quintana (0-1, 5.63).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER\u00a0\u2014\u00a0What do you know? The once-stampeding Dodgers have been caged by the Colorado Rockies. With a 9-6 loss…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[85853,119498,426,22281,10450,96605,9831,48,52,51,5814,47,50,49,23848,18158,67202,5884,2668,96670,24126],"class_list":{"0":"post-276270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-alex-freeland","9":"tag-big-league-clock","10":"tag-dodgers","11":"tag-first-base","12":"tag-first-game","13":"tag-first-home-run","14":"tag-first-time","15":"tag-la","16":"tag-la-headlines","17":"tag-la-news","18":"tag-lead","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","21":"tag-los-angeles-news","22":"tag-miguel-rojas","23":"tag-no","24":"tag-rockies","25":"tag-roki-sasaki","26":"tag-run","27":"tag-ryan-ward","28":"tag-sasaki"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}