DENVER (AP) – Jon Gray allowed three hits over eight innings to win for the first time in a month, and the Colorado Rockies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-1 Monday night for just their third win in 11 games this season against the NL champions.
Nolan Arenado had a two-run single in a five-run fifth inning, David Dahl hit a two-run homer into the right field second deck in the eighth, and Ian Desmond finished a home run short of the cycle. Colorado was 44-39 going into the final day of June but has won just six times in its last 24 games.
PBP Rockies 4-0/Arenado 2-Run Single
Gray (10-7) allowed one run, struck out six and walked three, joining Jorge De La Rosa as the only pitchers in team history with at least 10 wins in four seasons – Gray has done it four years in a row. He had been 0-2 in four starts since beating the Dodgers at home on June 29.
He walked his first two batters in the second inning before striking out the side and didn’t allow a run until the eighth, when Will Smith doubled and scored on Joc Pederson’s infield groundout.
Kenta Maeda (7-8) allowed six runs and seven hits in four-plus innings for the Dodgers, who lead the NL West by 14 games over second-place San Francisco. He had been 5-1 with a 3.12 ERA in 10 previous games at Coors Field, including seven starts.
Dahl had an RBI single, Arenado’s single boosted the lead to 4-0 and Ryan McMahon chased Maeda with a two-run double.
Rockies: RF Charlie Blackmon was given the night off to rest a sore back. He experienced back spasms during a postgame workout Sunday.
Tonight, Colorado’s LHP Kyle Freeland (2-8, 7.00 ERA) will get the start. He is 0-2 with a 6.43 ERA since rejoining the Rockies after a five-week stay in the minors. LHP Julio Urias was likely to start for the Dodgers.
