It's a long day livin' in Reseda, there's a freeway runnin' through the yard.
Yes, the Dodgers are free, free fallin'.
Yu Darvish's struggles continued as the Colorado Rockies rallied from a three-run deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-4, and extend their losing streak to a season-high eight games on Friday night at Dodger Stadium.
Carlos Gonzalez got Colorado on the board first with his second home run is as many days, when he sent Darvish deep to opposite field on a 96MPH fastball in the first inning.
"It was a good pitch to drive," Gonzalez said of the fastball from Darvish. "I've been getting ready for those pitches and whenever they show, I can't miss them."
Carlos Gonzalez solo shot off Yu Darvish in the first inning pic.twitter.com/HK6rjN95jY— Dodgers (@DodgersVideos) September 9, 2017
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It was CarGo's 10th homer on the season, and the first time he's homered in back-to-back days all year.
"Whenever I go nice and easy and am on time to the ball, good things happen," added Gonzalez of his recent power surge. "It's been nice."
The Dodgers struck back in the bottom half of the first, as they had their best offensive inning amidst their current 13-game slump.
Curtis Granderson led off with a single, and Justin Turner put the Dodgers on the scoreboard when he sent a 89MPH slider from German Marquez into the left field seats to give L.A. the 2-1 lead.
After Cody Bellinger reached on an error, and Joc Pederson on a walk, Austin Barnes brought them both home with a two-run single to RF.
"The first inning you saw our fight," Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts said of the four-run first inning. "JT big home run, and that two-out hit by Austin was huge. Overall there was a couple opportunities we didn't capitalize on and they came back and got us."
Unfortunately, the Dodgers lead would be short-lived as Darvish handed them all back in a wild four-run fifth inning that saw the Rockies record four doubles.
Alexi Amarista, Raimel Tapia, Charlie Blackmon, and D.J. LeMahieu all doubled as Colorado erased the three-run lead, chasing Darvish from the game in the process.
"There was a little flair off the bat of Amarista that turned a single into a double, and then a bad walk to Lucroy," Roberts said of the fifth inning. "Tapia hits a little flair that finds outfield grass, and now you bring up Blackmon and LeMahieu. It all happened quickly."
Darvish (8-12) allowed five runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts in just 4 and 1/3 innings.
"One thing I do is never run away from it," Darvish said through a translator of his struggles on Friday night. "I just go out there and compete and stay positive, keep going forward. That’s what I will keep doing."
Since an impressive Dodger debut, Darvish has been a disaster. In his last five starts since his first start in New York City, the Japanese right-hander is 1-3 with a 7.01 ERA.
“"n the first couple weeks when I joined the team, the team was playing really good baseball," added Darvish. "I was like, ‘Wow, everything we do is working.’ Right now we’re on the opposite side. The team is not playing well. But the team is working hard. It amazes me how hard they work to win. That shows me we’re a good team, because we never give up, and keep fighting."
On a positive note, Darvish became the fastest pitcher in MLB history to reach 1,000 career strikeouts when he stuck out CarGo in the top of the fourth inning.
Congratulations, @faridyu! Yu Darvish becomes the fastest pitcher to reach 1,000 strikeouts in @MLB history (128 games). pic.twitter.com/FNPzZhxwc5— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 9, 2017
Darvish reached the career milestone in just 128 career games and 812 innings pitched, both the lowest in MLB history.
"A couple guys came in and congratulated me, and that was great, but that wasn’t my goal today," said Darvish of recording his 1,000th career strikeout. "We want to win, and I want to go deep in the game today. Those are the goals I had today."
The Dodgers did not score a run after the first inning and stranded ten runners on base.
"That's just how baseball is sometimes," Bellinger said of the team's inability to score runs after the first. "It's a crazy game, but we showed some life so we'll turn it around pretty soon."
The National League leader in saves, Greg Holland, pitched a perfect ninth for his 38th save of the season.
L.A.'s eight-game losing streak is the longest since May 3-10, 2013 and the team has lost 13 of 14 overall.
"There's nothing we need to do different, nothing we need to change," said veteran Curtis Granderson who has been to the World Series with two different teams. "I remind the guys how good we really are. This team is good for a reason."
According to Stats LLC., no team in MLB history has ever gone through a 1-13 stretch in the regular season and gone on to win the World Series.
"You run through spells over the course of the season where you don't necessarily play your best baseball," added Granderson. "That just happens to be happening right now. We need to continue to do the little things, and the rest will work itself out."
The Rockies have evened the season series with the Dodgers at seven games apiece, and will have a chance to take the lead on Saturday.
Corey Seager returned to the starting lineup after missing the last week with a sore right elbow.
"It was very good to see him out there," Roberts said of Seager. "His throws were good. His body was moving well. It's just good to see him in the box and he makes us better."
Up Next:
The Rockies will send RHP Chad Bettis to the mound on Saturday opposite left-hander Alex Wood. First pitch is 6:10PM PST.
