Shohei Ohtani extends on-base streak to 50, but Dodgers lose to Rockies

DENVER — The Dodgers found themselves in an unfamiliar place Saturday night.

For the first time in almost a week, the other team had the lead.

After entering play with not only four straight wins, but essentially four consecutive wire-to-wire victories (their only recent deficit came briefly in the top of the first inning Tuesday), the Dodgers once again had early control at Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies.

But this time, in a 4-3 loss, they failed to stay in front –– in large part, because they couldn’t pull away.

Technically, the game flipped in the bottom of the sixth inning, when the Rockies (8-13) turned a one-run deficit into a one-run lead on Troy Johnston’s two-run double against Dodgers reliever Will Klein; who replaced Emmet Sheehan after his five-inning, two-run start.

The real culprit for the Dodgers (15-5), though, was their inopportunistic offense.

“We had some opportunities and couldn’t create some distance and kept them in the ballgame,” manager Dave Roberts said. “You’re not always going to put up crooked numbers every night. But I thought tonight we could’ve taken better at-bats.”

The Dodgers did have good at-bats early. They scored two runs two pitches into the contest, after Shohei Ohtani reached on an error and Kyle Tucker drove a two-run blast to right field. They tacked on another in the third, when backup catcher Dalton Rushing hit what was already his fifth home run of the season, despite starting for only the sixth time.

From there, however, the lineup started squandering chances. They left two runners on in the third. They came up empty after a Freddie Freeman triple in the sixth. They watched Alex Call get picked off to end the seventh. Then, they missed their biggest opportunities in the final two innings of the night.

In the eighth, the bases were left loaded on an inning-ending grounder from Max Muncy, who chased a couple low pitches before rolling one over to second base.

In the ninth, they got back-to-back two-out hits from Will Smith (who was pinch-hitting) and Ohtani (extending his on-base streak to 50 games), only for Tucker to end his three-hit night with a game-ending flyout.

Overall, the Dodgers left eight men on base and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

“I think that up to this point with runners in scoring position, we’ve been able to (produce), whether it be earn a walk or swing at good pitches and get hits,” Roberts said. “Today it just seemed like we chased a lot more than we have. We had opportunities … We could’ve put some more runs on the board.”

What it means

At the very least, that Ohtani’s historic on-base streak will live to see another day.

Before his ninth-inning single, the two-way star had been aboard twice: Reaching on a bad throw from Johnston on a grounder to first base to lead the game off, then when Colorado catcher Hunter Goodman interfered with his swing in the eighth inning to spark the ultimately wasted bases-loaded opportunity.

However, both of those plays went down as errors –– and, importantly, not at-bats in which Ohtani reached “safely” via either a hit, walk or hit-by-pitch.

Thus, he needed his bouncing ninth-inning grounder to sneak through the infield to run his on-base streak up to the 50-game mark.

“It’s remarkable,” Roberts said. “I was hoping he’d get that last at-bat and give hims an opportunity to change the game. He found a way to get on base.”

Ohtani is now just three games shy of the franchise’s Los Angeles record set by Shawn Green in 2000, and eight behind Duke Snider for the most ever by a Dodger.

Who’s hot

For only his second time since joining the Dodgers this year, Tucker delivered a three-hit game, taking the kind of swings that have eluded him during his slow start.

His best came moment came on his two-run homer in the first, when he took a first-pitch hack –– something he has done significantly more often this year –– and clobbered an elevated fastball from Colorado starter Ryan Feltner 435 feet for his third homer of the season.

“Kind of fouled off pitches like that, or swung through some (earlier this season),” he said. “It wasn’t a bad pitch. It was a heater at the top of the zone. But I feel like I should be able to hit those pitches and stay on top and stay through them. Barrel them up more often, but that was just a good swing right there.”

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

After that, Tucker added a pair of ground-ball singles in the third and eighth innings.

It was a nearly flawless night … until he made the final out with two aboard in the ninth by getting under a center-cut first-pitch changeup.

Alas, Tucker now has a four-game hitting streak and extra-base knocks in each of the last three. He’s still only batting .263 on the season with a .768 OPS. But it’s progress nonetheless for the $240 million outfielder.

Who’s not

Teoscar Hernández, whose bat has been almost as cold as the weather since arriving in Denver.

After going 0-for-5 with three strikeouts in Friday night’s win, Hernández turned in another –– and more –– costly 0-for-3 on Saturday, despite drawing a walk to load the bases in the eighth.

He rolled into an inning-ending double-play in the first, struck out with two runners aboard for the final out of the third, then rolled into an unproductive grounder with Freeman at third and one out in the sixth.

Those missed chances added up to hurt the Dodgers, and dropped Hernández to 6-for-32 over his last nine games.

Up next

After another brisk night Saturday, temperatures should finally be back in the 70s on Sunday, when the Dodgers and Rockies play an afternoon matinee. Roki Sasaki (0-2, 6.23 ERA) will start for the Dodgers. Michael Lorenzen (1-2, 8.10 ERA) goes for Colorado.