Dodgers heat up the bats in the cold and defeat Rockies

Dodgers' Jason Heyward hits a two-run home run.

Staff Writer

April 3, 2023 Updated 11:36 PM PT

Dodger Stadium felt more like early season Chicago on Monday night, with a wind-chill factor of about 50 degrees and gusts of 25-28 mph whipping the flags behind center field into a frenzy and turning a few fly balls and infield popups into adventures.

So it was no surprise that the game — especially for one crazy inning — resembled one of those wild Wrigley Field affairs, with the Dodgers and Colorado Rockies combining for 11 runs, eight hits and four walks in the fifth inning.

When the haymakers stopped flying, it was the Dodgers who were standing, riding their seven-run, five-hit outburst in the fifth to a 13-4 victory before a Julio Urías bobblehead night crowd of 49,792 at Dodger Stadium.

Rookie outfielder James Outman and veteran outfielder Jason Heyward each drove in three runs — Outman with a pair of triples and Heyward with a homer and sacrifice fly. Chris Taylor (third inning) and Will Smith (eighth) each crushed a two-run homer to pace a 13-hit attack.

“It was a tough one,” Heyward, a former Chicago Cubs outfielder, said of the cold, blustery conditions. “Obviously, I’ve played in Wrigley for the last seven years, played in San Francisco a bunch, but we’re out here in the mountains, not a lot of buildings to block the wind, so it was tough.

“Just pay attention to the big flags in center field but also to the field level and noticing that there was a bunch of different winds. A lot of communication pitch to pitch and just making sure we had to do what we had to do to catch the ball.”

The Dodgers ran into a headwind in the top of the fifth and had the wind at their backs in the bottom half of the inning.

The Rockies had turned a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead with four runs in the top of the fifth, and Colorado starter Ryan Feltner got two quick outs in the bottom of the fifth. But Freddie Freeman doubled to right-center field and Smith and Max Muncy each walked to load the bases.

Rockies manager Bud Black summoned right-hander Jake Bird to face J.D. Martinez, whose fly ball toward the right-field pole — a potential grand slam — was pushed foul by the wind. Martinez settled for a two-run single to left that tied the score 4-4.

Outman one-hopped the right-field wall for a two-run triple and a 6-4 lead, and Miguel Vargas grounded an RBI single to left to make it 7-4. Heyward, making his first start for the Dodgers, capped the rally with a two-run homer to right to make it 9-4.

“We got it done that inning,” Heyward said. “It just felt like we were stringing one thing after another, and everyone was just kind of locked in. That was awesome. Everybody took it one at-bat at a time, one pitch at a time, and we kind of wore them down and made it count.”

That every hit and run in the inning came with two outs made the rally all the more impressive.

“It’s something that’s definitely going to stand out, and we’ll pat each other on the back and build trust in that we don’t have to get it all done at one time or with one swing,” Heyward said. “Just go up there, trust our process, our plan of attack, and hope for the best.”

The Dodgers tacked on two more runs in the seventh when Martinez doubled, Outman tripled — making him the first Dodger since Yasiel Puig in 2014 to triple twice in a game — and Heyward hit a sacrifice fly for an 11-4 lead. Smith’s two-run homer in the eighth made it 13-4.

“Just good at-bats, top to bottom,” Taylor said. “I think it shows the depth of our lineup, guys doing it the right way, trying to grind out at-bats and make them work, and then taking advantage.”

Dodgers pitcher Michael Grove throws to the plate during the first inning against the Colorado Rockies.

Michael Grove, a fill-in for the fill-in, got the start on the mound for the Dodgers, whose original pick to replace the injured Tony Gonsolin in the rotation, Ryan Pepiot, suffered an oblique strain right before opening day.

Grove, who was in Oklahoma City preparing for a triple-A start Friday when he was summoned to Los Angeles, blanked the Rockies on one hit and struck out four in the first four innings, but his night soured after he walked Ryan McMahon to start the fifth.

The right-hander thought he had Mike Moustakas struck out with a full-count fastball that appeared to catch the top of the zone, and the Dodgers thought they had a double play when Smith threw out McMahon attempting to steal second.

But home plate umpire Mark Carlson called the pitch ball four. Elias Díaz doubled to right for a run, and Yency Almonte yielded a two-run single to Harold Castro. A fourth run scored on Jurickson Profar’s double-play grounder for a 4-2 Rockies lead.

“I didn’t have the benefit of instant replay right when it happened, but I felt like it was a strike,” Grove said of the pitch to Moustakas. “But you know, it’s a close call. Sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t. We won, so, end of the day, it’s not a big deal.”

Grove was sick the previous two days with body aches, fatigue and a loss of appetite, and there was some question as to whether he would even make the start. But he felt good enough Monday morning to pitch and gave the Dodgers four solid innings before his legs weakened and his velocity dipped in the fifth.

“We had a shorter leash on him, and I thought in that last inning, he started to poop out a little bit,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But he gave us everything he had and the stuff was good. Going four-plus innings was huge for our club, and to post in this situation was a big step for him and a sign of his character.”

The Dodgers got a scare in the seventh when Vargas was hit on the inside of his right thumb — on the same hand he injured in spring training — by a 92-mph fastball from Connor Seabold. But Vargas was able to finish the game.

“His thumb is fine,” Roberts said. ‘We’ll get it looked at [Tuesday]. He said it was sore, but he had full range of motion and strength, and he was adamant about staying in the game.”

Dodgers heat up the bats in the cold and use big inning to defeat Rockies

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