Hill hopes to end Dodgers' skid against Rockies
LOS ANGELES -- Who do you call when the sky is falling in Los Angeles? Why, that would be Rich Hill, of course.
Hill will get the ball for Sunday's game against the Colorado Rockies with Los Angeles Dodgers nation in full panic. Once the envy of the league when they reached 90 victories well before the calendar flipped to September, the Dodgers are now in a free fall for the ages.
What will Hill be trying to prevent Sunday?
The Dodgers will be trying to avoid their 10th consecutive defeat, something that hasn't happened to them since 1992. They will also try to slow a skid that has seen them lose 14 of their last 15 games. A loss to the Rockies would mean the Dodgers have been swept in three of their past four series. Two weeks ago, they hadn't been swept all season.
The road has been bumpy both on and off the field. After a defeat Thursday, manager Dave Roberts guaranteed the Dodgers still would win the division. One night later he chastised the home fans for booing struggling pitcher Pedro Baez.
Hill (9-7, 3.67 ERA) can ease the tension with a solid outing, but he has been here before. He was solid in his last start Monday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, giving up two runs in six innings. But Arizona pounded the Dodgers bullpen for a 13-0 victory. At the time, the Dodgers had lost nine of their last 10 games, a serious worry then, but far from the crisis things have become.
"We're in a little bit of a rut," Hill said, according to the Orange County Register. "But guys continue to come to the park and put the effort in. We'll be all right."
Aside from giving up six runs in an outing on Aug. 29 against the Diamondbacks, Hill has pitched well since July 1, posting a 3.02 ERA over 11 starts (65 2/3 innings). In that run was a near perfect game that led to the heartbreaking loss of his no-hitter in the 10th inning at Pittsburgh on Aug. 23. Perhaps that was the sign that strange things were ahead.
Hill has managed to avoid pitching against the division-rival Rockies this season. Over his career, he is 0-2 over three starts against Colorado with an 8.80 ERA over 15 1/3 innings.
Tasked with keeping the Dodgers' offense down for yet another day is Rockies starter Tyler Chatwood (6-12, 4.88 ERA). Moved to the bullpen in the second half, Chatwood returned to the rotation Monday against the San Francisco Giants and fired three scoreless innings.
The Rockies announced on Friday that Chatwood would get the ball in the series finale at Los Angeles. He threw 61 pitches Monday and it remains to be seen what kind of pitch restrictions he might have against the Dodgers.
If there is one thing Chatwood can still do -- whether it's out of the bullpen or in the starting rotation -- it is to induce ground balls. His three shutout innings Monday were helped by double-play ground balls in two of those innings.
"That's what I do, I get groundballs, that's why traffic on the bases doesn't bother me too much," Chatwood said after his last outing, according to MLB.com.
Chatwood has struggled in two starts against the Dodgers this season, going 0-2 with a 10.57 ERA. He has issued a combined nine hits and a whopping 12 walks in those two outings. Chatwood, a native of nearby Redlands, Calif., has a career 4-8 record against the Dodgers in 13 starts, with a 4.27 ERA over 71 2/3 innings.
