DENVER — This was a cool moment for Warming Bernabel — being doused with an icy bucket of water.
Not that long ago, winning moments like this were few and far between for the Colorado Rockies. That winning feeling, though, has returned a little more often in the second half of the season. The Rockies rallied to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 on Monday night courtesy of Bernabel’s walk-off single in the ninth inning.
With that, the Rockies ended a 10-game skid against the Dodgers. They also tied their season-high winning streak of four games.
Even more, they’re 14-15 since the All-Star break, while the NL West-leading Dodgers are 13-15. Colorado still trails the defending World Series champions by 35 games in the standings.
The last time Rockies beat the Dodgers was Sept. 21. It has been a little longer since they last beat them at Coors Field — June 19, 2024, to be precise.
“It’s good to get a win. We’re playing good baseball right now,” All-Star catcher Hunter Goodman said. “It’s just going out and playing clean baseball and playing the way we’ve been playing.”
The Dodgers entered the four-game series in the Mile High City fresh off a sweep of rival San Diego. Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts insisted his team wouldn’t overlook the Rockies.
“We’re going to get their best. We’re prepared for that,” Roberts said before the game. “But yeah, absolutely, teams try to kind of use us as a marker. We see that.”
In the ninth inning, the Dodgers were playing their outfielders deep to prevent a double. It ended up costing them one.
Ezequiel Tovar started a one-out rally with a bloop double that a charging Teoscar Hernández couldn’t catch.
“It’s a big outfield,” Hernández explained. “I tried to make a play. I didn’t.”
“He’s got to get better out there. There’s just no [other] way to put it,” Roberts said of Hernández. “It’s not a lack of effort. But, you know, we’ve just got to kind of get better. We do.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts met privately with Roberts and Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman in Roberts’ office after the game. It is not known what they discussed. Betts, a six-time Gold Glove winner in right field, made the move to full-time shortstop in spring training.
After Hernández’s crucial drop, Bernabel followed by sending a pitch from Justin Wrobleski (4-5) up the middle to bring home Tovar.
“We should have won that game,” Roberts said. “This is a hard one.”
No longer are the Rockies in imminent danger of setting a modern era major league mark for losses. At 36-89, Colorado needs to win six of its final 37 games to steer clear of the dubious record set by the 2024 Chicago White Sox, who finished 41-121.
“We’re at this stage right now where we’re trying to get better as a team,” Goodman said. “We’re trying to play the game the right way and do things to put us in a position in the future to get to the spot that some of these teams we’re playing against are in.”
Colorado has won five series since the All-Star break. That after winning only two series before the break.
“You definitely see flashes,” Goodman said. “We’re a super-young team. But getting that learning experience and figuring out how to win at this level and how to do it together as a team has been pretty cool to watch the last month or so.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.