Los Angeles Dodgers: Looking to take two of three in Colorado

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies have traded nine-run wins and face off in the series’ rubber match on Wednesday afternoon.

After losing two consecutive games by a combined score of 5-20 against the Washington Nationals and Colorado Rockies, the Los Angeles Dodgers exploded for nine runs on Tuesday night to defeat the Rockies, 9-4.

The offense does what it typically does against Kyle Freeland, who the team sees very well and who also had a 7.00 ERA entering the game. Eight of the nine runs came against Freeland, who saw his ERA rise to 7.48 in three and two-thirds innings of work.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers had a bullpen game that went exactly as planned. Julio Urias threw two and two-thirds innings, allowing three runs (one of which was unearned). Casey Sadler threw two and one-third scoreless innings before rookie Tony Gonsolin recorded a four-inning save, allowing three hits and one run in the process.

All three hits and the one run came with two outs in the ninth inning, so Gonsolin was one out away from completing four perfect innings for the save.

The bullpen hopefully won’t be needed much tonight as the Dodgers send National League Cy Young frontrunner, Hyun-Jin Ryu, to the mound. Ryu has a 1.74 ERA, although he was shelled his last start at Coors Field.

Ryu allowed seven runs in four innings of work in that start on June 28. If you take away that one start, Ryu’s ERA would fall to 1.57. To put that into perspective, only two pitchers — Greg Maddux and Dwight Gooden — have finished the year with an ERA under 1.60 since 1920.

There is still a long way to go before then and as it stands right now, Ryu would not even fall in that category. The Dodgers need to take it day by day and as part of our Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak series, this is who we think can provide some of the offensive support behind Ryu.

Jason’s pick (Current streak: 3): Max Muncy

It has felt like a while since we have seen a great game out of Max Muncy. While he always strings together good at-bats and can work a walk better than anyone else on the team, he has not been as sensational this year as he was last year, although that is a high bar to climb.

Muncy still has 26 home runs and a .895 OPS while having the same batting average (.263) as he did last year. The difference this year is his slugging is not as high as the home runs are not as frequent.

Either way, Muncy has avoided a sophomore slump but has been slumping over the last six games. In those six games, Muncy has three hits in 19 at-bats, although he is still getting on base with six walks.

Those six games also represent Muncy’s six-game streak since hitting a home run, his last of which coming on July 21 against the Miami Marlins.

Muncy is due for a bomb and two of his three-lifetime hits against German Marquez are home runs. With the high altitude and the hot afternoon air, Muncy is primed to hit one of his coveted moonshots with a bat flip to follow.