Dodgers lose to Rockies but J.D. Martinez makes franchise history
DENVER — Whatever else this year’s Dodgers team might be ultimately remembered for, it has already staked a claim as one of the best lineups in franchise history.
J.D. Martinez did his part to strengthen that case with a two-run home run in the first inning on Thursday night at Coors Field, the lone highlight for the Dodgers in a 14-5 loss to the Colorado Rockies. The homer gave Martinez 100 RBIs this season, the fourth Dodger to reach that mark (along with Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy).
It is the first time in Dodgers history that they have had four 100-RBI hitters in the same lineup. It has only happened 27 times in MLB history, most recently by the 2021 Toronto Blue Jays (Teoscar Hernandez, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette).
“It’s special,” Martinez said. “I’ve been on a lot of teams with really, really good offenses and I’ve never been on a team that has done that so it just speaks volumes of this team and how deep we are up and down the lineup.
“Guys are just always on base, that’s the biggest thing. One-through-9 you always have guys that find a way to get on base whether it’s walking, whether it’s getting a hit, but there’s always guys on base.”
It is the fifth 100-RBI season of Martinez’s career, his first since 2019, and came in just 110 games (with two trips to the injured list mixed in).
“It’s really impressive,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “J.D. missed a good chunk of time this year. So for him to hit 30 (home runs) and drive in 100 is really impressive. It just speaks to how talented these guys are.
“I say it in the best possible way — he’s old school. He (Martinez) values runs batted in. So — he can hit a homer, but he can also get a base hit. J.D. is a hitter first. … Like I said, he’s a hitter first and he’s come up big many times over.”
The Dodgers now head to San Francisco to close out the regular season this weekend. They will need to win the series against the Giants in order to reach 100 wins for the fourth consecutive full season (something no MLB team has ever done).
Betts (one shy of 40 home runs) and Freeman (two shy of 60 doubles) have three games left to add more milestones to their historic seasons.
Both came out of the game early Thursday night after the Rockies roughed up Dodgers starter Ryan Yarbrough for nine runs in the first four innings. Yarbrough gave up a home run to Charlie Blackmon in the first then back-to-back homers to Elehuris Montero and Sean Bouchard in the third.
Left to fend for himself, Yarbrough gave up 11 hits in his four innings, including five doubles as well as the three home runs.
“Bad days happen. This was just on a completely different level. Not just a bad day but getting your teeth kicked in,” Yarbrough said. “You don’t want to necessarily do too much differently (moving forward) because I’ve had a lot of success since I came over here. But I’ve really got to do a hard look – what was so different today, what was going on.”
Caleb Ferguson didn’t enjoy his time in Colorado either. Used as the opener in the first game of the series, Ferguson gave up three runs without completing an inning. Thursday, the Rockies piled on with four more runs against him in the seventh.
“With Fergy, there was just no command,” Roberts said. “I think there was just a lot of bad misses then when he put the ball in the strike zone, it was finding outfield grass. It just overall wasn’t good command. These last two for Fergy, just want to put them behind him. He’ll probably have one more outing on Saturday or Sunday and finish strong.”
Shortstop Miguel Rojas finished the game on the mound, allowing a run in the eighth as the Rockies finished with 18 hits including 10 for extra bases.