Jesús Ferreira makes history with hat trick in USMNT’s CONCACAF Gold Cup blowout

• June 29, 2023

ST. LOUIS — Jesús Ferreira scored his second international hat trick, Djordje Mihailovic had two goals and the 13th-ranked United States overwhelmed No. 139 St. Kitts and Nevis, 6-0, on Wednesday night in a CONCACAF Gold Cup group play match.

Mihailovic, Bryan Reynolds and Ferreira scored in a 3-minute, 50-second span to build a 3-0 lead by the 16th minute.

Ferreira has 11 goals in 20 appearances, becoming the fastest U.S. player to reach 10 international goals, accomplishing the feat in three games fewer than Clint Mathis.

On the heels of his four-goal game against No. 170 Grenada in Nations League play last year, Ferreira joins Clint Dempsey as the second player in USMNT history with multiple three-plus-goal games in competitive matches.

Ferreira became the fifth American with multiple hat tricks – Landon Donovan has three and Peter Millar, Jozy Altidore and Dempsey also have two each. Ferreira was the only American starter who played at last year’s World Cup, appearing in the first half of the second-round loss to the Netherlands.

Mihailovic also had two assists for the defending champion Americans, who matched their largest Gold Cup victory margin.

The win leaves the U.S. tied with Jamaica atop Group A with four points but ahead by three on goal differential. Jamaica beat Trinidad and Tobago, 4-1, prior to the U.S. win in St. Louis. Trinidad has three points and St. Kitts has none. The top two teams advance. The U.S. faces Trinidad on Sunday in Charlotte, North Carolina.

St. Kitts, a tiny Caribbean nation making its first appearance in the Gold Cup, became the Americans’ 100th international opponent.

Making his first start since June 2019, Mihailovic put the U.S. ahead in the 12th minute with a left-footed shot from the side of the penalty spot after a cut-back pass from Gianluca Busio.

Reynolds, playing on his 22nd birthday, beat Julani Archibald with a 20-yard volley in the 14th after Alejandro Zendejas’ corner kick bounced twice across the penalty area. He became the first American to score an international goal on his birthday since Earnie Stewart against Honduras in 2001.

Ferreira dribbled into the penalty area following a Busio pass, scoring on a 12-yard angled shot in the 16th, then got past an offside trap to score between the goalkeeper’s legs from a Mihailovic feed in the 25th.

Ferreira’s second goal gave the U.S. a commanding 4-0 halftime lead, but with the goal-differential tiebreaker surely on their minds, the team had more to play for.

Ferreira added his third goal from short range in the 50th and Mihailovic added his third international goal in the 79th.

U.S. interim coach B.J. Callaghan inserted seven new starters from last weekend’s opener, adding goalkeeper Sean Johnson, Reynolds at right back, central defender Jalen Neal and left back DeJuan Jones along with Busio and Mihailovic in midfielder and forward Cale Cowell. The holdovers were defender Matt Miazga and midfielder James Sands along with Ferreira and Alex Zendejas up front.

Johnson captained the U.S. for the first time.

Demarai Gray, playing on his 26th birthday, scored in the 14th and 30th minutes for his first two international goals as No. 63 Jamaica cruised past 104th-ranked Trinidad in the opener. Leon Bailey scored in the 18th and Dujuan Richards got a goal in the second minute of second-half stoppage time. Andre Rampersad scored for the Soca Warriors in the 49th.

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Domingo Germán throws 4th perfect game in Yankees history

• June 29, 2023

By MICHAEL WAGAMAN The Associated Press

OAKLAND — Domingo Germán of the New York Yankees pitched the 24th perfect game in major league history on Wednesday night, retiring every Oakland batter in an 11-0 victory over the Athletics.

It was the first perfect game since Seattle Mariners ace Félix Hernández threw one against the Tampa Bay Rays on Aug. 15, 2012. There were three that season – but none since until Germán finished the first no-hitter in the big leagues this year.

He joined Don Larsen (1956), David Wells (1998) and David Cone (1999) as Yankees pitchers to throw perfect games. Larsen’s gem came in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

“So exciting,” Germán said through a translator. “When you think about something very unique in baseball, not many people have an opportunity to pitch a perfect game. To accomplish something like this in my career is something that I’m going to remember forever.”

Coming off a pair of terrible starts, Germán (5-5) struck out nine of 27 batters against the A’s, who have the worst record in the majors.

The 30-year-old right-hander, a seven-year veteran, had never thrown a complete game in the big leagues. He served a 10-game suspension in May after getting ejected from a game in Toronto for using an illegal sticky substance on the mound.

Winless in six previous outings against Oakland, Germán threw 72 of 99 pitches for strikes. He mixed 51 curveballs and 30 fastballs that averaged 92.5 mph with 17 changeups and one sinker.

With the crowd of 12,479 on its feet for the ninth inning, Germán finished what he started. He got Aledmys Díaz to ground out before Shea Lanegeliers hit a fly ball to short center field for the second out. When Esteury Ruiz grounded out to third baseman Josh Donaldson to end it, the Yankees’ dugout and bullpen emptied as Germán’s teammates raced out to the mound to celebrate.

“That last inning was very different – very different. I felt an amount of pressure that I’ve never felt before,” Germán said. “I’m trying to visualize what I want to execute there. At the same time, I don’t want to miss. So much pressure, but yet so rewarding.

“The key there was not to overthrow,” he added. “I was feeling the pressure in that inning but at the same time I wanted to not overthrow, keep that same focus from the first inning, understand the lanes of attack we were using during the game and keep executing.”

Six days after allowing a career-high 10 runs (eight earned) and four homers over 3⅓ innings in a loss to the Mariners at home, Germán got his 500th career strikeout and was the definition of perfection.

It was the 13th no-hitter in Yankees history, including Larsen’s perfect game in the World Series. Corey Kluber pitched their previous no-hitter against the Texas Rangers on May 19, 2021.

Seth Brown came the closest to reaching base for the A’s, hitting a sharp grounder in the fifth to first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who made a diving stop and tossed to Germán for the out.

Giancarlo Stanton homered for the first time in more than two weeks and drove in three runs, and Donaldson added three RBIs against his former team to help the Yankees to their 15th win in 21 games against the A’s since Aug. 31, 2019.

Stanton crushed a 422-foot homer on a first-pitch fastball from former Yankees pitcher JP Sears (1-6) in the fourth. The ball was hit so hard that Ruiz in center field and Brown in right didn’t move but just turned their heads and watched it sail out to left-center.

Stanton added a two-run single off Shintaro Fujinami in the fifth when the Yankees scored six runs and benefited from two errors by the A’s.

Kyle Higashioka had an RBI double, then scored when Anthony Volpe reached on an infield single and Sears flipped the ball wildly into foul territory. Volpe took second on the error, stole third then scored on DJ LeMahieu’s single. A’s first baseman Ryan Noda also had a fielding error that allowed to reach.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who walked leading off the inning and scored, capped the uprising with a two-out RBI single.

But the night belonged to Germán, who was loudly cheered as the game unfolded. Many fans in Oakland were decked out in Yankees colors or jerseys.

“Unfortunately, two days ago an uncle of mine passed away and I cried a lot yesterday in the clubhouse. So I had him with me throughout the whole game. I was thinking about him,” Germán said. “This game is a tribute to him. He would have been so happy. He was always someone that really brought a joy to our family and it happened for him to watch it this way, from up there.”

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Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw avoids injured list for now

• June 29, 2023

DENVER — A day after pulling himself from a one-hit shutout after six innings and only 79 pitches, Clayton Kershaw was still not ready to explain what physical issue is bothering him.

Kershaw was at Coors Field on Wednesday afternoon and went through a workout, running and lifting some weights. But he did not make himself available to the media, leaving Coors Field to be examined by doctors and then returning for the game.

After the game, he exited the clubhouse and walked past reporters, declining to answer questions. That left it for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to try and explain what is going on with his staff ace.

“I think probably Friday or Saturday he’s going to play catch and then we’ll see if he makes his next start,” Roberts said.

“Before the game, the plan was for Clayton to make his next start (next week against the Pittsburgh Pirates). I still stand by that, until something changes. … From the training staff, he checked out. He’s going to play catch on Friday, and if he continues to feel good, he’s going to pitch.”

Roberts would not speak in specifics though he did eliminate Kershaw’s oft-bothersome back as the source of concern and said Wednesday’s exam did not include an MRI.

“It’s not his back,” Roberts said.

The only member of the Dodgers’ season-opening rotation not to spend time on the injured list this season, Kershaw leads the staff in starts (16) and innings pitched (95⅓). But a trip to the IL now would afford him a two-week break (until after the All-Star break) while missing just one start (the Dodgers planned to give him extra time off between starts this week).

“You know what? For me, I wouldn’t be totally opposed to that given what he’s done for us this first half,” Roberts said before the game. “But having a conversation with him, that might be different – and with what he’s done, he has earned that right to be in the conversation.

“I think probably tomorrow we will talk and see how each passing day he feels. But obviously, if he feels good enough to make his next start like we talked about, then great.”

MR. 2000

After Freddie Freeman collected his 2,000th career hit Sunday, fellow veteran J.D. Martinez had a message for him.

“I told him, I said, ‘Hey, congrats. But you’ve got 1,000 more to go. Lock it in. Let’s go,’” Martinez said.

Martinez might have been just teasing Freeman. But reaching the 3,000-hit milestone is something Freeman admittedly is targeting.

“I’m hoping to get more than 2,000 hits in my career, so it’s not something I was really thinking about,” Freeman said Sunday. “If this was 3,000, I would tell you, ‘Yes (it was on my mind).’ Hopefully, we’ll be doing this again in six or seven years.”

Freeman (signed through 2027) has averaged 180 hits over a full season so far in his career. That pace would get him to 3,000 career hits in five years. Freeman has been remarkably healthy throughout his career, playing at least 158 games in six of the past nine full seasons. But the 33-year-old recognizes that maintaining that pace in the later years of his career will be difficult.

“Obviously, you get to 2,000, now you want to get to 3,000,” Freeman said. “That’s only in good health and if I can keep playing the way I want to play. Father Time … it’s going to come up at some point.

“Three thousand hits … if that were to happen, that would be great. But, my main goal is to stay healthy.  If I stay healthy and play 162 like I want to do, I feel like the numbers will be there. Father Time will catch up at some point. But yeah, might as well go for the next thousand since I got to 2,000.”

Only 33 players in baseball history have reached 3,000 hits. Only five active players have more hits than Freeman – Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera (3,122), Cincinnati’s Joey Votto (2,098), the Padres’ Nelson Cruz (2,051), the Chicago White Sox’s Elvis Andrus (2,036) and Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen (2,012).

ALSO

Reliever Daniel Hudson did not make an appearance in the Arizona Complex League on Tuesday or Wednesday as Roberts had said was planned. But Hudson is still expected to join the Dodgers in Kansas City this weekend to make his return from ACL surgery a year ago. …

Roberts said he believes right-hander Dustin May has begun playing catch. May injured the flexor pronator mass in his right forearm on May 17 and received a platelet-rich plasma injection. He was shut down from throwing for six weeks after that. There is no word on how May’s throwing program will progress from here.

UP  NEXT

Dodgers (RHP Emmet Sheehan, 1-0, 1.50 ERA) at Rockies (RHP Chase Anderson, 0-2, 5.79 ERA), Thursday, 5:40 p.m., SportsNet LA, MLB Network, 570 AM

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The Real Housewives of Orange County are full of mechanical bull

• June 29, 2023

This week, “The Real Housewives of Orange County” delivered the imaginary crossover with “Yellowstone” you didn’t know you needed.

Imaginary because our housewives don’t actually meet John Dutton, the patriarch of the Montana ranch played by Kevin Costner on the hit series “Yellowstone.” But the women do head to Big Sky Country for a girls’ trip to a dude ranch and, of course, they act exactly like all those wealthy coastal folk who John Dutton works so hard to keep out.

Exhibit A: Heather Dubrow, packing for the trip with both her personal stylist and her personal assistant to help, trots out a pair of black Chanel rainboots to use as flyfishing waders.

John Dutton grimaces and takes a drink of whiskey.

Exhibit B: Shannon Storms Beador, dons a black Lone Ranger mask she’s considering for the trip, which leads her 18-year-old twins to guess she’s dressing up as a Ninja instead of the legendary masked lawman.

John Dutton tells Rip to take the whole lot of these housewives to the “train station,” which is neither a train station nor a place from which anyone ever returns.

The episode opens with the women all shopping for western wear for their trip. Heather, Tamra Judge and Jenn Pedranti all gather at a Boot Barn. Gina Kirschenheiter, Emily Simpson and Shannon meet at the vintage western store Landers Supply House in Costa Mesa, where Shannon, who never misses an opportunity to dress up, tries on a pair of overalls with one strap undone to model her best Farm Girl come-hither look.

At the Boot Barn, shopping soon falls away in favor of grilling Jenn about her boyfriend Ryan’s self-acknowledged playboy ways.

“You should be scared a little bit,” Tamra tells Jenn.

“Why, did he kill someone?” Heather asks.

“I think he killed a couple of marriages,” Tamra jokes.

Finally, Jenn is allowed to speak.

“He will tell you, ‘I have never been faithful to anybody,’” she explains. But so far so good!

Back at Ryan’s house, he and Jenn are all laughs and innuendo as Ryan goes over her back with a massage gun. But soon she gets serious, telling him how her excitement about the Montana trip faded during the conversation about his dating history.

“Tamra was talking about the stigma of you, like, you dated everybody in Orange County, and then you land with me,” Jenn tells him. “And I don’t really feel like you and I have a lot of cracks, but I will tell you, I worry about that.

“Everybody loves the newness of somebody and the excitement of somebody and the butterflies, and I’m the opposite of that,” the separated-but-not-yet-divorced Jenn continues. “I don’t want to be the product of another failed relationship.”

Ryan takes it all in, and reassures her that he feels like their relationship grows stronger by the day. It feels like one of the more mature relationship conversations you’ll hear on “Real Housewives,” but then Jenn is only four episodes into her housewives career so don’t be surprised if something goes sideways by the season finale.

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The big day arrives and the housewives, plus friend Taylor Armstrong, arrive at John Wayne Airport for their flight to Missoula, Montana. Tamra, who is legitimately the most outdoorsy and adventurous of any of them, can’t hardly wait.

“We’re going to do all the things you do on a ranch,” she tells the camera. “Including shoveling (manure).”

They board a private jet – John Dutton grinds his teeth and sends daughter Beth to do something illegal to stop a new airport – the housewives are off.

“No one would describe me as ‘country,’” Heather tells the camera. “But growing up one of my favorite shows was ‘Little House on the Prairie,’ so I feel like, the right hairstyle and maybe some cute boots, I could do it.”

We also learn that Emily is now the second housewife in four episodes this season to miss an activity due to contracting COVID. She’s not on the plane and her BFF is bereft.

“I have never traveled without Emily,” says Gina, who missed the yacht party she’d planned earlier this season due to her own COVID. “She’s my vacation wife. Who am I going to cuddle with?”

At the Alpine Falls Ranch, the housewives divvy up room assignments first. Heather, Tamra and Shannon take the villa – $4,725 a night with room for 16, according to the ranch website. Gina, Jenn and Taylor pick the bunkhouse – a bargain at $577.50 a night and room for 10.

Next up, riding the mechanical bull down yonder in the pasture. Shannon is running late, she doesn’t have her makeup on yet, something any rodeo cowboy can tell you is critical to your bull-riding success, so she stays behind while the others head out.

Gina, who grew up on Long Island, is struck by the pristine beauty of Montana.

“This is like a (pee) by a tree kind of place,” she declares.

“It’s a WHAT?” Heather hollers as the words reach her delicate ears.

Tamra kicks off the bull-riding session, jumping into the saddle like she’s done this before. (She has, as we see in a clip from an earlier season.)

When she inevitably tumbles off, she announces she may have torn a part of anatomy that a bull literally does not have.

Jenn is next, and she’s chosen to ride the bull in a skirt that would make an ordinary miniskirt blush. It’s … awkward, though the dudes of the dude ranch seem tickled by the whole thing.

The others all do fine, though Shannon, even with her makeup properly applied, refuses to climb aboard the bull out of concern for breaking a bone one wouldn’t think you could break on a well-padded mechanical bull.

At dinner, it’s meat, meat, baked beans, meat and slaw. Tamra asks the newbies, Taylor and Jenn, to share something the others don’t know about them. Taylor offers that she’s bisexual, and before her husband, had been in a relationship with a woman for five years. Jenn says that she was a flight attendant, and while flying the friendly skies had met her soon-to-be-ex husband.

Gina slips away with an excuse about needing to call her twins but secretly is off to change into one of her costumes. A few minutes later, as the others reach the ranch saloon, we find Shannon dressed up in Old West gear, though she’s much more Miss Kitty from “Gunsmoke” than Trixie from “Deadwood.”

Tequila shots interspersed with old-fashioned glasses filled with champagne can lead to nothing good, and the episode ends with our first big fight of the trip, a spat between Jenn and Heather that really isn’t all that interesting. So for now, we’ll leave it as the episode did – to be continued.

Related links

Real Housewives of Orange County: Emily goes full-on Nancy Drew
The Real Housewives of Orange County: They’re on a boat! And one’s gonna jump!
‘The Real Housewives of Orange County’: Tamra returns!
Meet Jennifer Pedranti, newest member of ‘The Real Housewives of Orange County’
Real Housewives of Orange County reunion: Who’s hot for Jimmy Fallon, who got a colonoscopy?

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Man charged in suspected Tustin drunken driving crash that killed Laguna Hills woman

• June 29, 2023

A 25-year-old Santa Ana man was charged Wednesday with driving drunk and causing a crash that killed a woman in Tustin.

Gerardo Joaquin Garcia Lopez was charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury and driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol 0.08% or more causing injury. He also faces sentencing enhancements of inflicting great bodily injury on two victims.

Lopez is accused of killing 67-year-old Rezvan Hekmat of Laguna Hills and injuring his passenger, Miguel Xum, according to court records.

Tustin police were called about the crash about 5 p.m. June 4 at Barranca Parkway and Tustin Ranch Road, according to Tustin police Lt. Ryan Coe.

Lopez had Xum and another woman in his vehicle. The other woman avoided injury, Coe said.

Lopez allegedly ran a red light while going west on Barranca and slammed into the vehicle Hekmat was driving, causing both vehicles to bounce off other vehicles in the intersection, Coe said.

Hekmat was taken to a hospital where she was later pronounced dead, Coe said.

Lopez was hospitalized following the crash and was arrested when he was released, Coe said.

The criminal complaint alleges Lopez had a blood-alcohol level of 0.41, more than five times the legal limit, and was driving faster than 65 mph.

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Angels’ Jaime Barria gives up 3 homers in loss to White Sox

• June 29, 2023

ANAHEIM — The Angels’ recent run of quality starting pitching came to an end on Wednesday night.

Jaime Barria, the Angels’ No. 6 starter, gave up five runs on three homers in three innings, sending the Angels on their way to an 11-5 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

Angels starters had allowed three runs or fewer in their previous 13 games. They had a 1.94 ERA in that span.

The Angels moved Barria into the No. 6 spot in the rotation last month because of how well he had pitched in relief, and because he’d shown an ability to bounce between the rotation and the bullpen.

His previous start was on June 13, in Texas. The Angels then didn’t need him for a couple of weeks, so he pitched out of the bullpen on June 18, working three scoreless innings.

With 10 days between outings, he was not sharp on Wednesday night.

“It’s tough when you don’t pitch that much,” Manager Phil Nevin said. “You can get all the work in in the bullpen you want, but you’re not facing hitters. The adrenaline is not flowing. It’s a tough role to have. He’s been great at it.”

Barria said he had worked enough in the bullpen between starts so that wasn’t an excuse.

“I don’t think that affected me at all,” Barria said through an interpreter. “I threw enough bullpens. I just missed my pitches.”

Barria walked the first hitter of the game, and two batters later he hung a slider to Luis Robert Jr., who crushed it 444 feet for a two-run homer.

The Angels got those two runs back in the bottom of the inning, on back-to-back triples by Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout and a Brandon Drury RBI single.

But Barria gave up solo homers to Seby Zavala and Eloy Jimenez in the next two innings. He allowed a fifth run on an Andrew Vaughn double and a two-out single from Zach Remillard.

That was all for Barria, who threw just 59 pitches.

“I left all my sliders up,” Barria said. “They made adjustments. They hit my fastballs. That’s what happened tonight.”

The good news is that Barria shouldn’t have to wait so long for his next outing. The Angels play seven more games before their next off day, so Barria is expected to start again sometime during that stretch.

Even after he was done, they still might have been able to climb back into the game if the Angels’ bullpen could have held down the White Sox, but Andrew Wantz allowed the game to get out of hand.

Wantz gave up four more runs in the fourth and fifth, three on Vaughn’s bases-loaded double. At that point, the Angels trailed 9-2, the first time they were down by more than four runs at any point in a game since June 3. They had not lost a game by more than four runs since May 7.

Drury and Hunter Renfroe hit homers in the seventh. It was Renfroe’s first home run since June 13, and his third in a span of 38 games.

Drury drove in another run in the eighth, giving him three RBIs for the seventh time this season. The Angels briefly pulled within 9-5 before Tucker Davidson gave up two more runs in the top of the ninth.

Trout was pulled after he batted in the sixth inning, with the Angels trailing by seven runs. Nevin said it was just a way to keep him healthy, avoiding the chance of an injury in a blowout.

“I’m going to be extra cautious with him,” Nevin said. “He’s played a lot of games. I know I gave him yesterday off but he’s fine. He’s completely fine.”

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Clippers waive Eric Gordon in cost-saving move ahead of free agency

• June 29, 2023

The Clippers waived Eric Gordon on Wednesday, electing not to guarantee his $21 million contract, and allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent.

The move is seen as a cost-saving measure, cutting the Clippers’ projected luxury tax bill from $169 million to $59 million, according to ESPN. The team is $18 million over the $165 million tax threshold. Cutting ties with Gordon also enables the Clippers to be more flexible with their payroll.

With his ability to space the floor and bury 3-point shots (42.3% last season), the veteran guard is expected to attract plenty of interest. He has averaged 16 points per game on 37% 3-point shooting over his 15-year career.

Gordon averaged 11 points and 2.1 assists in 22 appearances in his second stint with the Clippers after being acquired from Houston in a three-team trade in February. The Clippers had drafted him with the No. 7 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.

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Dodgers swap leads with Rockies, wind up on losing end

• June 29, 2023

DENVER — In the age of eight-man bullpens, it’s still possible to be caught short-handed – especially at Coors Field.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged before Wednesday night’s game that “a few guys” in the bullpen would not be available based on recent usage. Brusdar Graterol and Evan Phillips were clearly in that group, so Roberts tried to husband his high-leverage resources (Yency Almonte and Caleb Ferguson).

But leverage arrives at unexpected times at altitude. Roberts turned to Victor Gonzalez and Nick Robertson to shepherd a two-run lead through the sixth inning. They couldn’t do it, allowing five runs as the Colorado Rockies came from behind to beat the Dodgers, 9-8.

“Offensively, we were fantastic all night long and scored enough to win,” Roberts said. “It was just that sixth inning got away from us. You’re short-handed with some guys, some leverage guys, but you still have to go out there with the guys you have and make pitches and tonight we just couldn’t do that.”

Michael Grove got the start, the Dodgers hoping to avoid a full-out bullpen game by getting bulk innings from the rookie right-hander. He gave them five, though they were littered with baserunners.

Three singles in the second inning produced a run for the Rockies – but it could have been more. C.J. Cron led off with a single and was thrown out at third, appearing to be running at less than full throttle, when Nolan Jones sliced a hit down the third base line against a shifted Dodgers defense.

An inning later, Grove gave up three runs on four more hits and a walk. The runs scored on soft singles by Elias Diaz and Randal Grichuk, which left the bat at 68 and 65.6 mph, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers didn’t have a hit until the fourth inning against Rockies starter Kyle Freeland – though they drew four walks before Miguel Rojas’ one-out single in the fourth. A bases-loaded walk of Jonny De Luca forced in one run and a broken-bat single by Yonny Hernandez drove in two more.

Freeland’s next pitch was clobbered by Mookie Betts for a three-run home run. His 20th homer of the season capped a six-run inning that put the Dodgers on top, 6-4.

“Looking for a strike,” Betts said. “I don’t have very much success off him so getting deep into counts with him is not good for me. I was just looking for a strike to hit and be ready to hit.”

It all came apart in the bottom of the sixth.

Gonzalez struck out left-handed Nolan Jones, the high point of his outing. Grichuk singled again and went to third on a pinch-hit double by Jorge Alfaro. Ahead in the count 1-and-2, Gonzalez hit the No. 9 hitter, Brenton Doyle, with a pitch to load the bases.

Roberts called in the rookie Robertson, turning the switch-hitting Jurickson Profar around to bat left-handed. It didn’t matter. He walked, forcing in a run.

“You go with the matchups and who you feel is fresh,” Roberts said. “That’s just kind of where we’re at.”

Robertson gave up a long fly ball to center field by Ezequiel Tovar. James Outman got a bad jump on the drive, which carried over his head for a three-run double. Two batters later, Diaz made it a five-run inning and a three-run lead with an RBI single.

“It wasn’t a great read,” Outman said of his break on Tovar’s drive. “I saw the ball down and didn’t think it was a pitch he could really drive. But he got the barrel on it.”

The Dodgers got two of those back in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Hernandez (his third RBI of the night) and an RBI single by Freddie Freeman. J.D. Martinez came up with the bases loaded in a one-run game.

“That’s the situation we want,” Betts said. “Unfortunately it didn’t happen. But if you draw it up, that’s kind of how you draw it up and then you just let the chips fall where they may.”

They fell the Rockies’ way. Martinez struck out and the Dodgers went down in order in the ninth.

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