Dodgers begin season in bizarre fashion in loss to Colorado Rockies

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulls relief pitcher Jimmy Nelson as catcher Will Smith looks on.

Staff Writer

April 1, 2021 7:46 PM PT

DENVER — The strangest moment on a bizarre opening day at Coors Field occurred in the third inning Thursday — before the Dodgers’ costly defensive mistakes and Clayton Kershaw’s two hits and the bullpen’s letdown in front of a jarring number of fans — between first and second base.

It was there where Cody Bellinger and Justin Turner bypassed each other on the basepaths in confusion. Bellinger had lifted a flyball off Colorado Rockies right-hander Germán Márquez that bounced out of Raimel Tapia’s glove and over the left-field wall. Turner thought Tapia caught it so, after rounding second base, he retreated in a sprint to first base. Bellinger tried telling him to turn around. It was too late.

In the end, after a brief period of chaos, Bellinger walked off the field in disbelief. He was ruled out and was credited with an RBI single on what should’ve been on a two-run home run. The sequence was a sign of the frustration to come.

The Dodgers caught bad breaks, played sloppy, and failed to capitalize on scoring chances as they began their title defense with an ugly 8-5 loss to the team projected to occupy the bottom rung of the National League West.

“Honestly, we just didn’t play a good baseball game,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “All the way around, we didn’t play well.”

Thursday was the Dodgers’ first opening day as reigning champions in 32 years, their first one without Tommy Lasorda in seemingly forever, and their first one against the Rockies. It was also their first game in front of a substantial crowd since Game 5 of the 2019 National League Division Series.

The Rockies were cleared to fill Coors Field to 42.5% capacity, or about 21,000 people. Official attendance Thursday was 20,570 — a sellout — on the day the Washington Nationals announced at least three of their players tested for COVID-19.

The fans gathered to watch to teams on opposite ends of the competitiveness spectrum. The Dodgers won a World Series and reloaded by re-signing Turner and signing pitcher Trevor Bauer. The Rockies finished in last place in 2020 and reluctantly thumbed the reset button by trading Nolan Arenado, their franchise cornerstone, to the St. Louis Cardinals for an underwhelming package of players. They even paid the Cardinals $50 million to grease the transaction.

But Game 1 of 162 didn’t follow the script. Offensively, the Dodgers accumulated 15 hits, eight walks and a hit by pitch. And yet just five of the 24 baserunners scored as they went three for 16 with runners in scoring position and left 14 runners on base.

Opportunities were squandered right to the end. The Dodgers managed to load the bases with one out against closer Daniel Bard, but Matt Beaty, pinch-hitting for Zach McKinstry, struck out looking and Mookie Betts lined out to end the game with the tying run at first base.

Kershaw tallied two of the 15 hits, but he was less successful on the mound.

The left-hander entered the game with the lowest career opening day ERA of all-time (1.05), minimum 40 innings pitched. On Thursday, he gave up six runs, five earned, on 10 hits across 5 1/3 innings in his ninth career opening day start.

“It wasn’t great,” he noted.

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw waits to be pulled from the mound.

Kershaw yielded 10 or more hits for just the eighth time in his career, including the postseason. He walked one and struck out two. He threw just 77 pitches but induced just five swing-and-misses.

“I thought the curveball and fastball were good,” Roberts said, “but his pitch is the slider, and it just didn’t have that bite, that depth, that it typically has.”

The Rockies ultimately chased Kershaw with three consecutive singles — they compiled nine in all — and his defense didn’t help.

In the third inning, right fielder Betts misplayed a flyball off Chris Owings’ bat that turned into a triple. Two innings later, first baseman Max Muncy, charging on a bunt, couldn’t get the ball out of his glove in time to throw a runner out at third base.

Moments later, shortstop Corey Seager had a routine groundball that should’ve ended the inning dribble under his glove, letting the Rockies score their fourth run.

The Dodgers’ troubles continued in the seventh inning when Jimmy Nelson and Scott Alexander combined to throw three wild pitches. The Rockies scored on two of them.

The second ended with Austin Barnes diving in an attempt to tag out C.J. Cron. Cron beat the tag and spiked Barnes’ right hand, forcing him to leave the game with lacerations. Roberts said Barnes remains tentatively scheduled to start Saturday.

That was one of the few positive developments for the Dodgers on Thursday. They’re 0-1 for just the second time in the last 11 years. But teams are remembered for winning the last game in October, not the first game in April, even one as bizarre as the one played Thursday when the only home run hit in nine innings at Coors Field went down as a single.

“Our club, for the most part,” Roberts said, “doesn’t have too many games like this.”