DENVER –– What’s the best way for the Dodgers to work around an elbow injury to closer Edwin Díaz?
How about by building leads so big, they don’t even have a save situation come the ninth inning.
That’s what happened Monday in 12-3 blowout of the Colorado Rockies, helping the Dodgers salvage a four-game series split at Coors Field aftersuffering losses the previous two days.
Before the game,all the attention was on Díaz, who the team announced is undergoing elbow surgery this week to remove loose bodies that had caused his early-season velocity to dip.
In his absence, manager Dave Roberts said the Dodgers (16-6) will go closer-by-committee when it comes to ninth-inning save situations. For one night, however, he didn’t have to make such a decision.
Instead, the lineup build an insurmountable lead, bludgeoning veteran left-hander José Quintana for six runs in his start en route to scoring in all but two innings overall.
The onslaught began with back-to-back second-inning home runs from Max Muncy and Miguel Rojas, propelling that duo to a combined 7-for-7 performance from the Nos. 6-7 spots that was punctuated by another Muncy homer in the ninth.
Shohei Ohtani extended his on-base streak to 52 games, reaching base three times on a single and two walks.
Dalton Rushing also belted his sixth and seventh home runs of the season, putting him stunningly one off the National League lead (for which Muncy is tied with eight) despite having just 27 at-bats all year.
All of that meant, once the Dodgers finally turned things over to the bullpen, relievers Edgardo Henriquez and newly-recalled Jake Eder didn’t face anything close to stress.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
