Braves 9, Rockies 1: Just one wing at Coors Field tonight

The Colorado Rockies were hoping their offense would take flight after last night’s showing, but unfortunately it did not. Instead, the offense was limited to just four hits, while Chase Dollander got roughed up for the first time this season.

Brennan Bernardino served as the opener, and he left Dollander with a mess right off the bat. Bernardino failed to get out of the first inning giving up a single to Ronald Acuña Jr., and then he surrendering a two-run homer to Drake Baldwin to make it a 2-0 ballgame with zero outs in the first.

Ozzie Albies then doubled before Matt Olson finally flew out to center record the first out for Bernardino. A wild pitch allowed him to advance to third, and then Bernardino struck out Michael Harris II.

Warren Schaeffer likely envisioned Bernardino finishing at least the first inning, if not multiple innings, but ended up lifting him after just 0.2 innings. Dollander entered and immediately walked Mauricio Dubón, but then struck out Austin Riley to limit the damage.

The Braves Chase’d Dollander

Dollander started off the second inning strong with a strikeout of Mike Yastrzemski, but then gave up a double to Jorge Mateo. Acuña then came up to the plate and grounded out, but he pulled up halfway to first base. Hopefully it’s not an extended injury, given his history.

Next up, Baldwin singled to score Mateo and put the Braves up 3-0 but then Ozzie Albies struck out to end the inning.

Dollander recorded a 1-2-3 third, but the fourth and fifth got dicey.

The fourth started off with a walk to Austin Riley, which inevitably came back around to haunt. Yastrzemsky popped out to Karros, but then Riley stole second and then was knocked to third by a Mateo single. Eli White — who entered for Acuña — bunted, which scored Riley and moved Mateo to third. Baldwin struck again, though, with an RBI double to put the Braves up 5-1 and then Albies hit a sac fly to score White. Matt Olson flied out to end the inning, but the damage was done.

The fifth inning started with a single by Harris, which turned into two bases on an error committed by Troy Johnston. Dubón grounded out, but Riley homered to center to put the Braves up 8-1.

It was just Dollander’s fourth home run allowed this year, but he came back to get Yastrzemski and Mateo.

The sixth featured a lot of traffic, but nobody came around to score. Dollander was lifted after the sixth with a final line of 5.1 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 HR. He threw 97 pitches, 61 for strikes.

“I thought (Dollander) was just a little behind today,” Schaeffer said after the game. “I think (it was) unusual, with some walks. The breaking ball and the off-speed stuff — not enough strikes out of those so he relied on his fastball a little more. And they got him. I mean, that’s a good lineup. Tip your hat to that lineup, it’s a really good lineup.”

Dollander echoed that postgame with the media.

“I just didn’t get ahead and then didn’t put guys away when I needed to,” he said. “I started falling behind when I got ahead and it’s not conducive to success.”

When asked about pitching behind an opener versus starting, Dollander responded that it doesn’t change his mentality.

“I’m just trying to get the guys innings and put up zeroes just like I was when I was starting,” he said. “The mentality does not change at all. If you fall into that trap, it’s not good for pitching.”

You can watch Dollander’s full postgame interview here (courtesy of Patrick Saunders).

The Rockies offense, once again, was MIA tonight. They did not record a hit until the third inning, when Kyle Karros singled to lead off the inning. Ezequiel Tovar and Troy Johnston both flied out to center, but then Jordan Beck smacked a double to (barely) score Karros and end the shutout.

Brenton Doyle struck out, but at least the Rockies plated a run.

But that was the end of the scoring.

There was some traffic in the fifth, when Karros and Tovar walked back-to-back to start the inning, but Johnston grounded into a force out, Beck was called out on strikes, and Doyle struck out swinging to strand the runners.

Their next hit wouldn’t come until the seventh, when Brett Sullivan led off with a single. But then three-straight strikeouts stranded him at first. Willi Castro got a hit with one out in the ninth, but Sullivan grounded into a double play to end the game.

In total the Rockies offense mustered just four hits, but walked three times and struck out 12 (11 of those were against Chris Sale).

The Rox will look to avoid the sweep at the hands of the Braves tomorrow afternoon. Kyle Freeland will face Spencer Strider, who is making his 2026 debut. First pitch is at 1:10pm.

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