by Cary Osborne
Not exactly healthy, but healthier.
The Dodger offense, which has had a case of the chills as of late, showed some signs of recovery on Monday at Dodger Stadium in a 5–3 win against the Colorado Rockies.
Surprisingly, this was the first time this season the Dodgers reached double digits in hits. The Dodgers last reached at least 10 hits in a regular season game on Sept. 28, 2024 — against the Rockies. The starting pitcher for the Rockies that night was the same as on Monday — Anthony Senzatela.
The Dodger big three — Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman each reached base three times on Monday.
The top five batters in the Dodger lineup — Ohtani, Betts, Freeman, Will Smith and Michael Conforto — reached base 13 times (with each player reaching multiple times).
Max Muncy reached base three times — a hit by pitch and two walks.
The Dodgers struck out three times — tied for a season-low.
Mookie Betts hit a two-run home run in the first inning — the first time the Dodgers took a lead in the first inning on this homestand.
Shohei Ohtani homered in the third inning and flew out to the wall two other times. He also had his eighth plate appearance this season with a runner in scoring position in the fourth inning and came a couple of feet shy from hitting a three-run homer.
Will Smith drove in two runs.
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The Dodgers reached base 17 times against Rockies pitching — which holds the second-worst team ERA in the Majors.
The Dodgers came into the game off a series with the Cubs where they tallied five runs in three games and hit a combined .200.
“We all know been struggling, and everybody’s trying to be the guy to get us out (of it),” Betts said. “But I think we have to kind of go the opposite way and stop trying so hard and just kind of let it happen. It’s a long season, and the more you try, try, try, it’s like the further it gets away from you. So the more you chase it just keeps running away. And so when you just kind of let things happen and just play the game like you always do, good things tend to happen.”
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But there were also missed opportunities.
The Dodgers were 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position. They left 10 runners on base.
It helped make it a close game.
After starter Dustin May left with a 5–1 lead, Dodger reliever Anthony Banda allowed a two-run homer to Colorado catcher Hunter Goodman.
The Dodgers hung on.
May was excellent from the jump. He didn’t allow a hit until a Nick Martini double in the fourth inning. Then he retired the next eight Rockies he faced.
The sweeper was and continues to be a wipeout pitch for the right-hander. The Rockies were 0-for-6 against the pitch with five strikeouts.
“If I’m not being able to strike it, then I’m really not going to throw it. So if I’m being able to strike it and get ahead with it, then I’m going to use it,” May said.
May had a 43% called-strikes and whiffs percentage with the sweeper on Monday.
Opponents are 0-for-21 against May’s sweeper this season.
May was cruising with 54 pitches heading into the sixth inning. Martini got him again with a two-out single, and Kyle Farmer followed with an RBI-double in the sixth.
Otherwise it was a clean outing for May and his third promising start in his return from nearly two years out of Major League action.
His lines:
· April 1 vs. Atlanta: 5 IP, 1 H, 3 BB, 1 R (0 ER), 6 Ks
· April 7 vs. Washington: 6 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 3 R (1 ER), 1 K
· Monday vs. Colorado: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 1 R (1 ER), 7 Ks
Opponents are hitting .121 against him this season.
“I think that with Dustin there’s always been a confidence in himself, but I think that the efficiency of the pitches, the flooding the strike zone, the ability to strike the secondary pitches, get the swing and miss when he needs it, I think the confidence is really building and is sustainable,” said manager Dave Roberts. “I think it’s real.”
Dodgers offense shows positive signs, May shows more of the same was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.