Dodgers Recap: Adrian Gonzalez Stars in Rainy Birthday Win in Denver

After over an hour of rain delay, the wet weather in Colorado stalled just enough for the series opener between the Dodgers and Rockies to commence. It seemed like Adrian Gonzalez, who turned 33-years old on Friday, was at the center of the game and a part of several key plays.

Brett Anderson and Eddie Butler did their best to pitch in the wet and slippery conditions. Both pitchers battled to stay on the mound, and Anderson slipped once. Butler’s command was also tested by the wet baseballs, and he also had to pitch through a sore shin when he was drilled by a Juan Uribe liner. The game was stopped right after Butler allowed the Dodgers to load up the bases in the top of the sixth inning. Oh what could have been…

I can imagine Alex Guerrero hitting a beautiful grand slam. Lightning would strike down in center field…

/end game

That didn’t really happen outside of my imagination, but the game sure did seem like it was happening in some dark and stormy nightmare.

Dodgers 2 5 1

Rockies 1 6 0

WP- Anderson (2-1)

LP- Butler (2-3)

I was just thinking about Joc Pederson and how we haven’t been able to see him run much this seasons so far because he has been hitting so many homeruns. Pederson showed off his speed with his second stolen base of the season, off Eddie Butler, to start off the soaked first inning at Coors Field. Then Mr. Birthday Boy celebrated by hitting a ground-rule double over the center field wall and into the trees. Joc brought in the first Dodger run on Gonzo’s first of two hits on the night. Yasmani Grandal‘s sacrifice fly (caught in foul territory by a sliding Corey Dickerson) allowed Justin Turner to tag up and score.

More from Dodgers Way

• Giants sign former Dodgers pitcher in another move that’ll get them nowhere
• Kevin Kiermaier being ‘top target’ to replace Cody Bellinger is bad sign for Dodgers
• Are the Dodgers really prepared to hand Shohei Ohtani a blank check?
• Dodgers fans shouldn’t dismiss interest in Dansby Swanson for this reason
• Giants laughably sign pitcher that Dodgers absolutely own

Alex Guerrero reached safely even though the amazing Nolan Arenado made a fantastic stop and throw on the grounder to third base. For some reason the slow Adrian Gonzalez tried to come home after the ball got away from Nick Hundley on a wild pitch while Andre Ethier was at the plate. The tag on Gonzo was a little iffy, but the Dodgers didn’t challenge the play.

Even though Brett Anderson allowed consecutive singles to Corey Dickerson and Troy Tulowitzki in the home half the first, the left-hander induced the double play from Justin Morneau to squelch the threat.

Nolan Arenado is annoyingly good. He made another great play at third in the second to double up Juan Uribe. Tit-for-tat. Juan Uribe also made a Gold Glove-worthy play to retire Arenado on a groundball to third base in the bottom of the second. Arenado is good, but Uribe is the OG at third base.

May 5, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; General view of Coors Field during a rain delay before the start of the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Colorado Rockies. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

It started to rain again in the fourth inning just after Troy Tulowitzki doubled off the left field wall. Then Alex Guerrero’s slippery error in left field allowed Tulo to score on a ball hit by Arenado. The ball squirted out of Guerrero’s glove, and the throw home was not in time.

The bottom of the fifth became a very important inning for Brett Anderson as the rain started coming down harder. With a slim 2-1 lead, the left-hander only needed three more outs to make the game official. Anderson induced two groundouts from DJ LeMahieu and Eddie Butler. Anderson slipped on the mound after ball four to Charlie Blackmon which extended the rain soaked inning.

The pivotal point in the game came when Adrian Gonzalez mowed down Blackmon at home after he made a gutsy decision to try to score on an infield single by Corey Dickerson. Gonzo made a great heads up play to throw to Grandal at home who just got the tag in. Walt Weiss challenged the call, but it was upheld after a lengthy review.

The game became official, but the umpires decided to carry on. The game was halted after the Dodgers loaded up the bases in the top of the sixth. Justin Turner was hit by a pitch, and Gonzalez and Grandal hit back-to-back singles. After Alex Guerrero took a ball and fouled off a pitch, the umpires stopped the game in the middle of his at bat.

Brett Anderson pitched 5 innings and allowed 1 run on 6 hits with 1 strikeout and 1 walk on 63 pitches.

Eddie Butler pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed 2 runs on 5 hits with 3 strikeouts and 4 walks on 88 pitches.

The game was finally called after 5 1/3 innings, and Brett Anderson got the win. There may not have been any homeruns during the cold, wet night, but the Dodgers picked up the victory thanks to Gonzalez’s RBI double, a sacrifice fly by Yasmani Grandal and an important play by Gonzalez who prevented the tying run from scoring with his quick reflexed throw to the plate.

The Dodgers improve to 19-10 on the season.  If weather permits, Game 2 will feature Clayton Kershaw versus Jorge De La Rosa.