Friday night was Game-2 of a four-game series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in Denver. Following their ugly 8-5 loss to Colorado in Thursday’s season opener, the Boys in Blue showed up ready to play and with a very noticeable chip on their shoulders.
The Dodgers are known for their home-run-hitting power, but on Friday, they approached their at-bats with more patience and were able to play ‘small ball’ to get some early runs on the board and keep the momentum going.
What had the baseball world talking was the no-hitter that 2020 NL Cy Young award winner Trevor Bauer had going in his first start as a Dodger. Until the seventh inning, it was a 10-0 game, with Bauer only issuing one walk to Rockies’ first baseman C.J. Cron in the second inning. He struck out an impressive 10 batters in all.
Bauer eventually lost his no-hit bid in the seventh inning, when he gave up a single to Rockies shortstop Trevor Story.
And then the proverbial wheels fell off.
Rockies veteran right fielder and longtime Dodgers nemesis Charlie Blackmon crushed a two-run home run off Bauer, who then walked Cron again. This was followed by yet another two-run home run, this one by Rockies infielder Ryan McMahon. Bauer then managed to strikeout Rockies second baseman Garrett Hampson, his 10th – and final – strikeout victim of the night before Dodger’s manager Dave Roberts brought in 2012 AL Cy Young award winner David Price to relieve him.
It did not go well for the 35-year-old/13-year MLB veteran, who also allowed two home runs in that seventh inning nightmare. Fortunately, the defending World Series champions held on to win their first game of the 2021 season by a Coors Field-ish score of 11-6.
Many believe that it was Bauer’s sacrifice bunt and running the bases in the top of the seventh inning that marked the turning point in his stellar pitching performance on Friday night. His perfectly executed bunt allowed Dodgers catcher Will Smith to score, but it forced Bauer to become a baserunner and spend considerable time on the basepaths. He would eventually make his way to third base but was left stranded there.
During his postgame Zoom media session, Bauer was asked if getting on base and running might have affected his pitching in the seventh inning after his six brilliant clean innings, to which he declined to comment. However, manager Dave Roberts did.
“You know there might be something to that,” Roberts said. “I don’t think that we can kind of guard against it, but pitchers aren’t used to being out there. He’s at altitude and on his feet. There’s a routine that pitchers typically have in between innings – he didn’t have that. I know Trevor’s not going to make any excuses, but certainly that next inning, we saw what happened following him running the bases down.”
Bauer is known for the careful dissection of data when it comes to his pitching. The media obviously would be no exception after such an impressive display. When asked directly if anything changed in the seventh, Bauer had a thoughtful response about his outing, referencing the 2017 Houston Astros cheating scandal and its consequences on that season.
“I think I executed well. Maybe I fell into some patterns, maybe they started looking soft. I haven’t had time to go back and really break down the video since we’re not really allowed to watch video in-game anymore. New ‘Astros Rules’ or something like that.”
As is always the case when a no-hitter is in progress, some default to – and respect – the age-old superstition that, under no circumstances, do you ever mention that a no-hitter is in progress until it ends – one way or the other. Others, especially broadcaster and across social media, have no problem commenting on it, thereby unsettling the many die-hard fans who ‘respect the superstition.’ They seem to always default to saying that it is their obligation to inform their viewers and listeners of what’s happening, even though their viewers and listeners obviously already know what’s happening.
As you might expect, Bauer had an interesting take when asked if pitching a no-hitter was among his career goals.
“As far a no-hitter goes, I don’t really care. If it happens, it happens,” Bauer answered directly. “It’s not something that’s in the pitcher’s control, you know. Unless you strike out like 27 guys, there’s going to be balls put into play, and that’s luck. You know whether they get at people or whether the defense makes a great play. There was a lot of great defensive plays behind me tonight … very easily could have given up hits before the seventh.
“I look at it as luck, and I try to focus on things that I can control, which is my physical preparation, mental preparation, the stuff coming out of my hand, my decisions on the mound, and where the ball ends up at the plate,” Bauer added. “That’s really the only five things that I can control, so that’s where I try to focus.”
Bauer definitely doesn’t give into a lot of ‘head trash’ and doesn’t subscribe to the so-called ‘Curse of Coors Field.’
“I think that whole like ‘not very favorable to pitchers’ thing is overblown,” he explained. “I think a lot of guys come in here and beat themselves mentally before they even take the mound.”
The media and baseball fans alike have been hard on the 2020 NL Cy Young award winner but, if anything, his outing Friday night proved he has the proverbial ‘stuff.’ His ERA after one game may reflect 5.68, but does not tell the whole story of how Bauer came in and dominated six straight innings. Whether he has a no-hitter goal or not, he will be fun to watch, along with the rest of the Dodgers great great pitching staff this season.
Let’s Go Dodgers!