MLB Game Preview - Colorado at LA Dodgers

Tue Sep 3, 2019 10:10 PM EDT

The Los Angeles Dodgers had lost three in a row before squeaking out an extra-inning win in Arizona on Sunday. They really got rolling Monday night against the Colorado Rockies and will look to continue that trend Tuesday in the second game of a three-game series.

The Rockies, meantime, stumbled to their seventh consecutive defeat and fell for the 11th time in 12 games.

It wasn't all good news for the Dodgers, who had 17 hits in a 16-9 victory. Joc Pederson, who hit two of the Los Angeles' seven home runs, left in the fifth inning after running into the short wall in right field while robbing Charlie Blackmon of a homer.

Pederson was able to walk off under his own power, and even was able to break into a little smile, but he could miss some time with what the team said was an abdominal contusion.

The Dodgers lead the NL West by 18 games, so they can afford to give Pederson some time to heal, especially with the rosters expanded in September.

Los Angeles will send right-hander Julio Urias (4-3, 2.53 ERA) to the mound against Colorado on Tuesday. He will make his first appearance since Aug. 16 after he completed a 20-game suspension for a domestic violence allegation stemming from being accused of shoving his girlfriend in a parking lot in May.

Urias was not charged with a crime, but he accepted the punishment from Major League Baseball. He served the first five games of the suspension while on administrative leave in May.

"I'm trying to cooperate with the league; I was going to respect whatever decision they made," Urias said through an interpreter before Monday's game. "I'm trying not to be a distraction for my team. Now, I'm just looking ahead, preparing for the postseason. I'm happy that my teammates received me."

The Dodgers are trying to stretch out Urias as a possible fourth starter in the postseason, and it begins Tuesday against Colorado. Urias will be making his fifth career start and seventh overall appearance against the Rockies, and he is 0-1 with a 6.64 ERA against them.

In three appearances, two starts, vs. Colorado this year, Urias has no decisions and a 4.82 ERA.

Colorado will send Chi Chi Gonzalez (0-6, 8.07 ERA) to the mound to try and do something Rockies pitchers haven't been able to do for a week -- quiet the opponent's bats. The Dodgers' seven-homer night Monday came after the Pittsburgh Pirates clubbed nine while sweeping a four-game series over the weekend.

Colorado's staff has allowed at least 15 hits in five straight games and has given up double-digit hits in each of the past seven losses.

Gonzalez doesn't appear to be the one to turn around the team's fortunes. In his past two starts, he allowed a combined 12 runs and 10 hits in five innings. He has started against the Dodgers twice in his career, going 0-0 with a 3.65 ERA. In a June 30 no-decision vs. Los Angeles, he gave up three runs in four innings.

The Rockies have averaged more than five runs during their losing streak, but their opponents, two of which met in the World Series last fall, have averaged 10.

"Now, is it frustrating? Sure, no doubt," Colorado manager Bud Black said. "We're all competitive and we want to win games and you really want to play well. But this is something we talk about."

--Field Level Media