Dodgers come to Denver looking to pile on wins, improve some ugly stat lines

New York Times

5 hours ago

DENVER — The Los Angeles Dodgers arrived here to be further witnesses to history. The 2025 iteration of the Colorado Rockies is trending toward new levels of baseball ineptitude, plummeting toward the bottom at 18-61 with an even more rapid pace than last year's Chicago White Sox, whose 121 losses were a record. Coors Field is home to beautiful views, a stunning ballpark, ugly baseball and an opportunity for the Dodgers.
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They have survived their gantlet, playing a month's worth of games against teams feasibly within postseason contention. Now, a chance to catch their breath and soak up wins against the soft part of their schedule to expand their lead in the National League West, having already taken a series against the floundering Washington Nationals.
'It's the truth — you need to beat the teams you're supposed to beat,' Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. 'That's just the way it is.'
This place also serves as a great equalizer. Weird stuff happens within these walls. The Dodgers managed to take care of their business, holding tight to their once-large lead to preserve a 9-7 victory.
It helps when the Rockies are seemingly so good at beating themselves.
Tuesday, it was a six-run outburst in the fourth inning that started when Freddie Freeman's groundball trickled under Rockies first baseman Michael Toglia's glove, extended when Toglia threw wide of home plate trying to nab Will Smith and — after the struggling Michael Conforto turned on a go-ahead three-run blast — reached its defining moment. Tommy Edman scorched a grounder in Toglia's direction. As Rockies starter Germán Márquez watched the ball go between Toglia's legs for another flub, Márquez stumbled and rolled his ankle, going down in pain. So it goes for the 2025 Rockies, and the Dodgers were prepared to take full advantage.
Michael for three! pic.twitter.com/y6xT0AEhR1
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 25, 2025
Conforto collected a double to go with his three-run blast. Shohei Ohtani launched a two-run homer in the sixth inning to pad the Dodgers' lead. Justin Wrobleski touched 100 mph again as he continues to show signs of being a real potential contributor. They've won 11 of their past 15 games, remaining within a game of the best record in the majors.
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The Dodgers did what they should against a bottom-feeder. They'll have to keep doing so. After the Nationals and Rockies, they will get cracks at the Kansas City Royals and the White Sox, hoping to expand upon a division lead that sits at 4 1/2 games.
'To be honest with you … this is the part of the year that we always get hot,' Miguel Rojas said recently. 'We get a lot of wins in the middle of the year like this. I know we played .500 (baseball) for a long time, and that's not who we are.'
It's clear who the Rockies are. The Dodgers took full advantage of Colorado's struggles to get themselves right. That included Conforto, who started his 66th game of the season Tuesday and finally recorded his first game with multiple runs batted in while adapting a slight leg kick to impact his timing to get to a fastball.
'Had some good games here and there, but just to put a run of some solid games together has been the thing that I've been missing to kind of get on a roll,' Conforto said. 'That's what we've been working towards.'
'To get production out of Michael was big tonight,' Roberts said.
It included another big swing from Ohtani, who broke out of his miniature slump Sunday against the Nationals.
It even showed signs of life from Mookie Betts, who collected a pair of hits and drove in the final run of that eventful fourth inning with a double. Betts' OPS entering Tuesday was .728. The last time it was that low this late into a season was a decade ago, in his first full season in the majors.
It's not what the Dodgers envisioned when they mapped out putting his bat at the shortstop position this winter. Instead, it's his sterling glove that has carried the majority of his overall value.
'I think we all are (surprised),' Roberts said. 'None more surprised than Mookie himself. But he's playing great shortstop — premium position. He's doing it at short. So I just feel that the bat is gonna come back to life.'
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Still, Roberts said, 'I don't think there's a correlation' between Betts' move to shortstop and his sudden inability to barrel up baseballs the way he always has.
'I've never played short every day, but I don't think that's really playing a part,' Betts said. 'Being sick and just kind of playing catch-up – there's a lot of variables that go into it, but you got to figure it out.'
Tuesday was a better day. In his second at-bat, he barreled up a Márquez fastball to center field that left his bat at 105.7 mph, just the second ball in the last nine days he'd hit at least 100 mph. Brenton Doyle tracked it down for an out.
In the fourth inning, he waited out a breaking ball, lining it past the third-base line to extend the Dodgers' advantage for a double. He added a grounded single the other way to his tally in the sixth, completing his first multi-hit game since June 7. He had gone 9-for-54 since.
'We had a good day today, and we'll see about tomorrow,' Betts said.
Just as with the Dodgers, Tuesday was a chance to come into this ballpark and exit with numbers that look a little better.
(Photo of Michael Conforto after hitting a three-run homer: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)