The Colorado Rockies knew they were going to face a focused and determined Clayton Kershaw on Saturday night. They got just that, and they got shut out, 4-0, to drop their second straight game to the Dodgers and fourth overall to NL West foes. Tyler Chatwood, meanwhile, matched a career high in walks and suffered his shortest outing of the season in the loss.
Kershaw (11-2, 2.47 ERA) was back to his usual dominant self on Saturday, allowing no runs on four hits and striking out eight Rockies over six innings. In his last outing, Kershaw had allowed four home runs – the most allowed in a single game in his career. The Los Angeles bullpen was just as effective in relief of Kershaw. Brandon Morrow, Pedro Baez and Sergio Romo allowed just baserunner, an eighth inning base hit by DJ LeMahieu off Baez, in three innings of scoreless relief. LeMahieu was the only Rockies player with more than one hit in the game. His first-inning double was the only extra-base hit the Dodgers allowed.
Chatwood (6-8, 4.32) walked a career-high eight batters in 3.1 innings, his shortest outing of the season. It is the third time this year he has failed to reach the fifth inning of a game. He allowed three hits and struck out three. Joc Pederson hit a solo home run in the third inning. Chris Rusin, Scott Oberg and Mike Dunn combined to pitch 4.2 innings of scoreless relief. Rusin allowed one hit and two walks in his 2.2 innings.
With the loss, Colorado falls further behind both the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks in the NL West. The Rockies, who entered a three-game series with Arizona earlier this week atop the division, are now 3.5 games out after losing four straight (two apiece) to the Dodgers and D-Backs. The Rockies will look to Tyler Anderson (3-5, 5.75) to avoid the sweep. Anderson is making his first start since returning from the disabled list. He pitched one inning of scoreless relief in a loss to the Diamondbacks on Thursday. Brandon McCarthy (6-3, 2.87) will pitch for Los Angeles. First pitch is 2:10 p.m. MDT.