Hot Dodger Week Ends Cold

Photo Courtesy LAist
With this afternoon’s 7-6 loss to the Colorado Rockies in front of an announced 38,503, the Los Angeles Dodgers saw a five game winning streak come to an end as, unlike yesterday, this afternoon’s efforts to come from behind fell short.

The Dodgers had a big hole to dig out of early with rookie starter Nathan Eovaldi’s 41 pitch first inning that saw the Rockies plate five. “I felt like I made my pitches,” he said of an inning which featured broken bat singles and balls nearly caught by outfielders. In the first frame, Eovaldi (1-2) walked a trio of Rockies, let up a pair of RBI singles and a Kevin Kouzmanoff three-run double.

Manager Don Mattingly felt like the Dodgers had a shot after his team's poor first inning luck: “We just didn’t catch a break there. From there on we were pretty good.”

The Dodgers put six runs on the board in the first seven innings, though were short of the late inning heroics needed to extend their win streak to six and secure their second straight series sweep.

Five innings of long relief (featuring a battery of Blake Hawksworth, Hong-Chih Kuo, Mike MacDougal, Kenley Jansen) saw only two additional Rockies runs, both off of Hawksworth. For the Rockies, Jhoulys Chacin (11-10) allowed four runs over five innings and struck out six to earn the victory. Rafael Betancourt picked up his fourth save of the year.

Shortstop Justin Sellers and Tony Gwynn, Jr. each had two hits for the Dodgers. Matt Kemp added another stolen base to raise his season total to 34.

Rockies fielder Carlos Gonzalez had a strong day at the bat and in the field. He had three hits in four tries as well as a SportsCenter highlight of a diving catch that ended a Dodger attack in the fourth. Teammates Kevin Kouzmanoff and Seth Smith each had two hits.

On Andre Ethier

The morning wasn’t a walk in the park for Don Mattingly thanks to a LA Times column penned by T.J. Simers. In the piece, Simers stated the Dodgers were playing an injured Andre Ethier despite the hurt star's wishes. Before today’s game, Mattingly addressed these implications.

“I was a little taken aback,” said Mattingly. “To me, the way I read it, was that Dre’s been telling us he can’t play, and we just say ‘well you’re playing anyway’ and that’s definitely not the case.”

Mattingly said he’d rather "lose" his job than “put a guy out there that has a chance of hurting himself." Doctors were scheduled to look at Ethier’s knee today.

And Whatnot

* It was announced today that Univision Radio KTNQ 1020 broadcaster Jaime Jarrín will return next year for his 54th season. In 1998 Jarrín was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

* The homestand continues with a three game series against the San Diego Padres, Monday through Wednesday, starting tomorrow at 7:10 p.m.

Follow Caleb Bacon on Twitter at @theCalebBacon.

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