Dodgers-Rockies preview
DENVER -- Kenta Maeda will try to continue his dominance against Colorado and his mastery at Coors Field when he starts Monday against the Rockies for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Maeda is 13-7 with a 3.37 ERA this season. In his past six starts, he's 5-0 with a 3.74 ERA while limiting opposing hitters to a .226 average with 30 strikeouts and seven walks in 33 2/3 innings.
In his last outing Tuesday, Maeda picked up the win in a 9-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants. He threw 103 pitches in five innings and gave up three runs, six hits and four walks with four strikeouts.
In three starts against the Rockies, Maeda is 2-1 with a 1.45 ERA (18 2/3 innings, three earned runs) with two walks and 22 strikeouts in 18 2/3 innings. Rockies hitters are averaging .179 (12-for-67) against Maeda.
In two starts at Coors Field, Maeda is 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA, issuing one walk in 12 innings with 13 strikeouts.
"Kenta is good at Coors Field because he keeps the ball down, he executes his pitches, and regardless of what team or ballpark he plays in, Kenta doesn't concern himself with that," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "I think that sometimes pitchers worry about pitching in Coors Field, but I think Kenta is not worried about that. Mentally, he accepts that challenge."
The Dodgers are 31-31 on the road. They will go out and back to Colorado for three games, as was the case when they dropped two of three games at Coors Field from Aug. 2 to Aug. 4, salvaging the final game to avoid being swept.
The Dodgers, who lead the San Francisco Giants by two games in the National League West, took two of three from the Chicago Cubs during the weekend and improved to 13-5 in series rubber games on Sunday while winning for the sixth time in eight games. Los Angeles is 7-5 against the Rockies this season and 3-3 at Coors Field.
Rockies starter Jon Gray, who is 8-6 with a 4.61 ERA, rebounded in his last outing on Tuesday at Milwaukee. He entered that game 0-2 with a 12.46 ERA (13 innings, 18 earned runs) in his previous three starts but held the Brewers to four hits and two runs in six innings with three walks and 10 strikeouts.
It was Gray's fourth game this season with at least 10 strikeouts. The Rockies were leading 4-2 when Gray left but lost 6-4.
Gray is 1-2 with a 4.35 ERA in four starts against the Dodgers. Three of those starts have come this season, and Gray is 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA in those games.
Gray, whose 142 strikeouts are a record for a Rockies rookie, is 5-1 in 11 starts this season at Coors Field with a 5.11 ERA in 61 2/3 innings.
A win in the rubber game of the series on Sunday at Washington enabled the Rockies to go 3-3 on a road trip that began dismally in Milwaukee.
The series with the Dodgers will kick off a 10-day, nine-game homestand for the Rockies. They have won four of their past five games at Coors Field -- against the Nationals and Cubs -- to improve their home record to 32-31. The Rockies went 4-2 against both the Nationals and Cubs this season.
"When we play the best teams, we take it to another notch," Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado said. "It's good to know if we put it all together how dangerous we can be. We have to be able to maintain it."
Arenado finished a double shy of the cycle Sunday while going 4-for-4 with his 35th homer of the season, tying him with Chicago's Kris Bryant for the NL lead, and three RBI, increasing his major-league leading RBI total to 111.
In his past seven games, Arenado is 16-for-29 (.552) with one double, one triple, five homers, 13 RBI and seven runs scored and has raised his average 16 points to .291, the highest it has been since he was hitting .291 on July 2.
With 32 RBI this month, Arenado is one shy of the club record for RBI in August set by Andres Galarraga with 33 RBI in 1993.
