HEADLINE

Dodgers look to extend dominance over Rockies in Denver

Field Level Media

September 20, 2020 at 8:35 am.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have made themselves at home at Coors Field lately, so they might be sad to say goodbye to the ballpark when they wrap up a four-game series against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.

L.A. has won 10 of its last 13 games there, including a 6-1 win Saturday night. The Dodgers go for the sweep when right-hander Tony Gonsolin (1-1, 1.51 ERA) goes against Colorado’s Antonio Senzatela (4-2, 3.30).

L.A. (38-15) has won five straight and six of its last seven, while the Rockies have lost four in a row and need an abrupt turnaround in the last nine games to reach the playoffs.

The Dodgers have clinched a postseason berth and are closing in on their eighth straight National League West title. They’re already thinking about the playoff bubble in Texas.

One of the decisions manager Dave Roberts will have to make is how to use Gonsolin, who has been a starter in six of his seven appearances this season.

“Well, he’s certainly in the (postseason) plans. I think right now, the great thing about us is that we have a lot of options with starting pitching. We know Clayton (Kershaw) and Walker (Buehler) are going to start game one and game two. And we’re talking about a three-game series; there are some discussions that need to be had with the rest of the three guys,” Roberts said.

Sunday will be Gonsolin’s second career start and third overall appearance against Colorado. In the previous outings he hasn’t recorded a decision but holds a 1.80 ERA against the Rockies.

While Colorado (22-29) has struggled in dropping nine of its last 11, a bright spot in that stretch was Senzatela’s last outing. The righty threw a complete game against the Oakland A’s on Tuesday, the first complete game by a Rockies pitcher at home since 2016.

Senzatela is slated to make his eighth career start against LA on Sunday and is 2-3 with a 6.50 ERA in nine overall games against the NL West Division rivals. He is 2-0 with a 5.73 ERA in three games, two starts, against the Dodgers at Coors Field.

Colorado’s struggles have been a mixed bag. In the first two games of this series, the Rockies allowed 24 runs and scored nine. Saturday the starting pitching was solid, but the bats were silent.

Colorado also made a significant roster move before Saturday’s loss when they designated reliever Wade Davis for assignment. Davis, who set a club record in his first season with Colorado with 43 saves in 2018 — which led the NL — has struggled since.

He was 1-6 with an 8.65 ERA in 50 games last season, and he has missed most of this season with a strained right shoulder. In five games he was 0-1 with a 20.77 ERA.

“He was a great presence on our team and a great mentor for a lot of our younger pitchers. He was one of our leaders,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “The shoulder woes started happening and he just really couldn’t recover totally.”

ALL  |  NFL  |  College Football  |  MLB  |  NBA