Quick – How many home runs did the Dodgers hit in Wednesday night’s 3-0 win over the (just barely) National League West first place Colorado Rockies?

That’s right, none. Zip, zilch, nada.

The Dodgers – a team that is known for (or at least expected to) hit a lot of home runs – beat their division-leading rivals without hitting even one home run. Instead, they put up three runs in support of an absolutely brilliant pitching performance by right-hander Kenta Maeda with a couple of timely ‘small ball’ hits and (brace yourselves) some outstanding base running.

No, not stolen bases, of which the Dodgers had none on Wednesday night, but on some aggressive, heads-up base running that was involved in all three Dodgers runs.

The hitting and running parade began in the bottom of the fourth inning, which started with a leadoff single to center by Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner. This was followed by a fly out to right field by Dodgers left fielder Matt Kemp and then a sharp single to right by Dodgers center fielder Kiké Hernandez, on which Turner was unable to take third base.

However, the next batter, Dodgers second baseman Logan Forsythe, hit a double into the left field corner to drive in Turner that would have also easily scored Hernandez, had it not bounced into the seats for a ground rule double.

This is where it gets interesting.

The next batter, Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig, hit a hard grounder to Rockies shortstop Trevor Story, who opted to throw to third base to try to nail the advancing Forsythe. Knowing that he was caught dead to rights, the 31-year-old Memphis, Tennessee native and eight-year MLB veteran stopped and got into a rundown, which allowed Kiké to score and opened the door for Puig to attempt to take second base.

Puig did so, sliding head first into second base just ahead of Rockies second baseman Daniel Castro’s throw to Story, who broke to cover second base during the rundown.

Although unquestionably risky, Puig’s aggressiveness on the basepaths was a refreshing sight for a Dodgers team that has been relatively quiet in doing so thus far this season.
(Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)

Although there are some who may consider Puig’s attempt to advance to second base on a ball that never left the infield both risky and foolish, his aggressiveness on the basepaths during the Forsythe rundown put him in scoring position in a very tight ballgame; even though he was left stranded there.

One inning later, Dodgers shortstop Chris Taylor led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk but was forced out at second base on a grounder to Arenado by Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes, who beat the throw to first to avoid the double play. Turner then hit a sharp single to short right field, on which the speedy Barnes aggressively took third base.

Dodgers left fielder Matt Kemp then flied out to Rockies left fielder (and perennial Dodger killer) Gerardo Parra, on which Barnes tagged up and scored on the sacrifice fly.

Thinking that Parra would throw home in what would have been a futile attempt to nail Barnes, Turner tagged up at first base but was easily thrown out at second on a perfect throw by the two-time Gold Glove outfielder.

“Puig, it was a contact play, and for him to run hard out of the batters box, get over there to second base was huge,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts after the game. “And Austin going first to third was a big play. Running through on the sac fly from Kemp and J.T. trying to advance to second base but Austin running through home plate was a big run.

“So a lot of good things, some double plays, J.T., Kiké using the whole field, Yasiel had some really good at-bats, Yasiel going the other way,” Roberts added. “So a lot of good things tonight offensively on the bases, obviously on the mound too.”

As for that mound thing, Maeda was nothing short of brilliant, allowing no runs and only two hits in his 6.2 innings of work, in which he made 111 pitches. Along the way, the popular 30-year-old Senboku-gun, Japan native struck out a season-high 12 Rockies batters, including striking out the side in the fourth and sixth innings.

“Obviously his slider is really good right now, the command of the slider to strike it when he needs to, to shorten it when he needs to,” Roberts said of Maeda. “But the fastball command to both sides of the plate tonight, you really saw him pitch to the glove side away from the right-handed hitter and then in to the inside of the right-handed hitter, and doing the same thing with the lefty. And so I think that ability to go east-to-west and strike the slider has been huge.

“He was in control, we extended him a little bit tonight,” added Roberts. “I just felt that his stuff wasn’t falling off.”

Maeda struck out a season-high 12 batters on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium to come within one of his MLB career-high of 13, set on July 10, 2016. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

With the win, the Dodgers now find themselves only 3.5 games behind the NL West first place Rockies, 2.5 games behind the second place Arizona Diamondbacks, and 1.5 games in back of the third place San Francisco Giants in what is clearly MLB’s closest divisional race.

Roberts’ team has a scheduled day off on Thursday before opening up a three-game Memorial Day weekend series with the NL West last place San Diego Padres, who trail the Dodgers by only 2.0 games. In other words, now is not the time for the Dodgers to take their foot off the gas if they are to have any chance of winning the division for a seventh consecutive season.

Play Ball!