Try as they may, and meaning no disrespect, the 2023 Colorado Rockies are not a very good baseball team.

Oh sure, they’ve won 32 games thus far this season, including beating the Dodgers on Wednesday night by a score of 9-8, but they have lost 51 games, third most in the MLB.

That 51st loss was to the Dodgers on Thursday night by a Coors Field-like score of 14-3, with those 14 Dodgers runs coming on 18 hits, both season-highs.

During the two-hour and 55 minute game (which followed a one-hour and 50 minute delay due to a severe hail storm that passed through the Mile–High City), just-named 2023 All-Star starting designated hitter J.D. Martinez slugged his 19th home run of the season (one behind just-named 2023 All-Star starting right fielder Mookie Betts‘ team-leading 20), and just-named 2023 All-Star starting first baseman Freddie Freeman drove in his team-leading 52nd run of the season.

In addition to his fourth inning two-run blast, Martinez also doubled twice and went 4-for-6 on the night, driving in four of his team’s 14 runs.

Freeman also became the first Dodgers player with 100 hits, 50 RBI and 10 stolen bases before the month of July since RBI became an official statistic in 1920.

And then there was 23-year-old Dodgers right-hander Emmet Sheehan, who made his third start of the season and first at hitter-friendly Coors Field. The hard-throwing New York, NY native and Dodgers sixth round draft pick in 2021 out of Boston College allowed those three Rockies runs on seven hits, while walking none and striking out five, doing so on only 88 pitches (60 strikes) in his brilliant five innings pitched.

“I honestly didn’t really notice a difference in terms of like I didn’t really get any shortness of breath out there or notice the ball flying too much,” Sheehan said about pitching at Coors Field for the first time. “It felt like a regular start to me.”

“Tonight, I thought for me, the change-up was really good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts answered, when asked by SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson about Sheehan’s excellent outing. “I thought, obviously he’s a fastball-heavy pitcher, I thought he did a really nice job of… you know, we gave some outs away that we didn’t convert some plays, and it didn’t phase him, and he kept staying on the attack. As you mentioned, there was no walks in there, there was five or six punchouts.

“And, you know, this is not an easy place to pitch, not an easy environment and, you know, after that first inning, I thought he became pretty efficient,” Roberts added. “And so, to get us through five, to be able to stay away from some guys was huge. He’ll go on regular rest next time, which is the first time in quite some time, but, you know, he’s learning, he’s gaining experience.”

Well done, young man.

Play Ball!

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