DENVER — Kuhl me once, shame on you. Kuhl me twice, shame on me.
When the Dodgers faced the Colorado Rockies in late June, the Dodgers were coming off an emotional weekend in Atlanta that culminated with a 4½-hour, extra-inning game on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.
The Dodgers didn’t arrive at their Denver hotel until 3 a.m. and looked every bit the weary travelers they were while going down listlessly against right-hander Chad Kuhl who spun a three-hit shutout to beat them.
They were wide awake this time and scored five times in the first three innings against Kuhl, holding on for a 5-4 victory on Friday night.
“I think it increased our chances to perform,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts joked about the value of a full night’s sleep. “We came in today much more rested than last time.”
Whatever sleepless nights the Dodgers might be having now have less to do with the travel schedule and more to do with the state of their bullpen.
Closer Craig Kimbrel was handed a three-run lead in the ninth inning and turned it into a one-run lead, loading the bases with two outs then given up a two-run single to Randal Grichuk. It took an outstanding catch by Trayce Thompson down the left-field line — that ended with him bouncing off the safety netting in the stands — to secure the victory.
The save was one of the uglier of Kimbrel’s 390 career saves (tying him for seventh place all-time with Dennis Eckersley). But it fit right in with Kimbrel’s Dodger tenure.
Though he has blown just three saves, Kimbrel has given up 14 runs in 20 innings during save situations. Just three of his past 15 saves have not involved at least one baserunner.
“There’s one outing where he’s efficient, commanding the baseball, getting the swing and miss. The next one we’re up near 30 (pitches) to get three outs,” Roberts said after Kimbrel needed 29 (and Thompson’s help) to get through the ninth against the Rockies.
“He’s our closer. But certainly performance matters – especially at the back end of the game. No one knows that more than Craig. … He’s got to continue to work on some things to be more efficient and be more effective. That’s just facts.”
The Dodgers have been much more effective at the start of games recently.
Over their past three games, the Dodgers have abused opposing starting pitchers – Patrick Corbin of the Washington Nationals on Wednesday, Jose Ureña of the Rockies on Thursday and Kuhl on Friday. Those three were charged with 21 runs on 21 hits while recording a total of 22 outs.
Kuhl was actually the most effective of the three. But he gave up a two-run home run to Will Smith in the first inning and another to Thompson in the second (after Rockies left fielder Kris Bryant dropped Cody Bellinger’s fly ball).
“First pitch, just kind of center cut,” Thompson said of his homer. “He threw really well against us the last time. I feel like we got a lot of pitches to handle we just didn’t have any good results. We were pretty determined today to go out there and jump on him early.”
The Dodgers scored again in the third inning on three walks and an error (the Rockies’ fourth in the first two games of this series) and Kuhl was gone in the fourth after loading the bases on a Mookie Betts triple, a walk and a hit batter.
Life has not been good for Kuhl since his big night against the Dodgers.
In five starts since then, Kuhl has given up 22 runs on 31 hits (including six home runs) and 14 walks in just 20⅔ innings.
“I don’t think his slider was as good as it was the first time around,” Roberts said. “He was getting behind. I don’t think the fastball command was as good either. You could see once Will hit that two-run homer on a sinker in, the body language … he just didn’t really recover from that.”
Julio Urias has had his share of hard times at Coors Field. Coming into Friday’s start, the Dodgers left-hander had a 5.81 ERA in Denver, his highest at any stadium where he has pitched more than twice.
There was none of that Friday night. Urias stumbled once in the second inning when he gave up a double to Jose Iglesias, a triple off the center-field wall to Randal Grichuk and a sacrifice fly. He allowed just two more hits in his seven innings, rolling through the Rockies on 89 pitches (no more than 15 in any inning).
Not good enough for the National League All-Star team, Urias now has a 2.54 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and .177 batting average against in 10 starts since the beginning of June. The Dodgers have won eight of those 10.
“In this ballpark, for two starters to go back-to-back seven innings is tough to do,” Roberts said of Thursday’s starter Tyler Anderson and Urias. “We got two good starts from both those guys. … Julio was really good, just using his entire mix.”
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