Walker Buehler exits early as Dodgers lose at Coors Field

DENVER — Any crippled astatine Coors Field is similar a acheronian thrust astatine an amusement park. You’re ne'er definite however agelong it volition past truthful you conscionable strap successful and anticipation you person each your possessions erstwhile it reaches the end.

The Dodgers did not marque it done safely Wednesday night, losing to the Colorado Rockies, 10-5, astatine Coors Field successful a crippled that sewed doubts astir a pitcher the Dodgers volition beryllium counting connected successful October.

Walker Buehler faced 18 batters, failing to marque it done 4 innings for the 2nd clip successful 4 starts this month. He allowed 7 hits, including 1 location tally and 2 doubles – 1 a two-run termination changeable by the opposing pitcher that ended Buehler’s nighttime aft 3-2/3 innings. Of the 74 pitches helium threw, the Rockies swung and missed conscionable 4 times.

When August ended, Buehler was the National League’s Cy Young Award frontrunner with a 2.05 ERA and a .187 batting mean against successful 27 starts. There was a statement to beryllium had connected whether the Dodgers should commencement him oregon Max Scherzer successful a imaginable one-game wild-card playoff.

There is nary statement anymore, nary Cy Young successful Buehler’s contiguous aboriginal – and a diminishing anticipation that the Dodgers volition beryllium capable to debar that one-game wild-card playoff.

In 4 starts this month, batters person deed .317 disconnected Buehler, fueling a 7.32 ERA. The Dodgers person mislaid 3 of those starts.

All of the harm was packed into 1 inning Wednesday night.

The Dodgers gave Buehler a 3-0 pb successful the apical of the third. Gavin Lux drove successful 1 tally with a enactment thrust done the shortstop hole, aggressively stretching it into a double. Luke Raley followed with the Dodgers’ longest location tally of the season, a 472-foot commuter formation to Nebraska.

But the Rockies scored 5 times successful the bottommost of the inning.

Brendan Rodgers led disconnected with a location tally and the adjacent 4 batters singled successful a assortment of ways. Buehler got Elias Diaz to alert retired and struck retired Sam Hilliard. With Rockies starter German Marquez up next, Buehler was connected the verge of escaping further damage. But Marquez lined a shot to the partition successful halfway field, driving successful 2 much runs and ending Buehler’s night.

The five-run inning was much than Buehler gave up implicit 13 innings successful 2 erstwhile starts astatine Coors Field this season. But his ERA successful 10 vocation appearances (eight starts) astatine Coors is present a hefty 5.03.

Marquez gave backmost the pb helium created by walking 3 of the archetypal 4 batters successful the 5th inning. One tally scored connected a bases-loaded locomotion and different erstwhile Justin Turner drove a bases-loaded alert shot to close field. But Trea Turner was caught disconnected 2nd basal erstwhile Charlie Blackmon threw down him and the imaginable large inning fizzled retired there.

The Rockies took the pb for bully successful the 5th erstwhile Dodgers lefty Justin Bruihl gave up a leadoff azygous and deed Blackmon with a pitch. Brusdar Graterol replaced him and gave up an RBI azygous to Trevor Story.

After Corey Seager’s fifth-inning single, the Dodgers didn’t person different deed until Mookie Betts singled with 2 outs successful the ninth. By then, the crippled had already unraveled connected them erstwhile the Rockies scored 4 unearned runs successful the seventh inning.

The inning started with Blackmon tapping a shot to the close of the pitcher’s mound. Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia scooped it up and raced implicit to tag Blackmon. The 2 collided, Vesia went down hard adjacent archetypal basal and dropped the ball.

Vesia stayed successful but retired conscionable 2 of the adjacent six batters helium faced, giving up a three-run location tally to Sam Hilliard aft Dave Roberts elected to intentionally locomotion catcher Elias Diaz successful bid to acceptable up a left-on-left matchup for Vesia to get retired of the inning.

More to travel connected this story.