DENVER _ In their first three days pitching a mile above sea level, the Los Angeles Dodgers managed to avoid the traps that befall so many teams at Coors Field. Hyun-Jin Ryu buckled beneath the weight of the Rockies on Thursday, but otherwise the pitching staff remained pristine.
On Sunday, in a 9-6 defeat to the Colorado Rockies, the affliction spread to Julio Urias, Sergio Romo and Chris Hatcher.
On two occasions, Urias failed to protect a lead and collected only 12 outs. Sent in as relief, Romo promptly served up a two-run homer in the fifth. Hatcher ruined a comeback attempt by surrendering another two-run shot in the eighth.
The hole proved too steep for the offense. Corey Seager and Yasiel Puig provided early-afternoon homers against Rockies starter Antonio Senzatela. The lineup sputtered until the eighth, when Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger delivered RBI singles. Six runs was not enough.
A few hours before the game, the video board in left field flashed "SENZATIONAL," Senzatela played a sizable role in Colorado's rise to first place. He posted a 2.86 earned-run average in his first seven starts. He personified the success of this youthful pitching staff, a group stocked with rookies such as himself and Kyle Freeland.
Beneath the surface, though, Senzatela appeared a juicy target. He leaned on his fastball more than 75 percent of the time. He struck out fewer than five batters per nine innings. "We're just looking to be aggressive and take that fastball away from him," Roberts said before the game.
The first two batters of the game followed that strategy. Joc Pederson worked Senzatela for a walk. Seager ran the count full, then unloaded on a fastball. The two-run homer landed in the Dodgers' bullpen.
The Dodgers kept pestering Senzatela, until an ill-timed bunt by Chris Taylor short-circuited the inning. After singles by Justin Turner and Yasmani Grandal, Taylor tried a safety squeeze to score Turner from third. Turner got hung up in a rundown, which led to Grandal getting tagged out to end the threat.
The bottom of the inning was not kind to Urias. He gave up a leadoff single to outfielder Charlie Blackmon that landed at Pederson's feet in center. A bunt by second baseman DJ LeMahieu hugged the third-base line but stayed fair. After part-time first baseman Chase Utley could not settle beneath a foul pop-up, third baseman Nolan Arenado ripped an RBI double. A two-run single by first baseman Mark Reynolds put Colorado ahead.
Senzatela held the lead for one batter. He left a slider at the waist to Puig. The pitch was effectively on a tee. Puig sizzled a line drive over the left-field fence for his seventh homer of the season. An inning later, Grandal delivered a go-ahead RBI single.
Up a run, Urias proceeded to cough up the advantage. The wounds were self-inflicted. He walked outfielder Carlos Gonzalez with one out in the fourth. Urias tried to compensate for the free pass by picking Gonzalez off, but the throw to first base zipped well wide of Utley's glove, and Gonzalez ran to third.
Gonzalez did not linger there for long. Urias' next pitch was a pitiable curveball. Colorado shortstop Pat Valaika made the ball disappear in the center-field forest. It was the first homer Urias had allowed in 2017.
Manager Dave Roberts sent Urias back to the mound for the fifth. Urias threw three more pitches. After Urias clipped Blackmon with a curveball, Roberts called upon Romo. Two batters later, Arenado demolished a slider and launched a two-run homer to expand Colorado's advantage to three.
