LOS ANGELES ― Early in the first inning of his Aug. 3 start against the Oakland A’s, Julio Urías had his back against the wall. A single and a walk put runners on first and second with one out. Shortstop Miguel Rojas visited the mound and reminded Urías that he didn’t have to strike everybody out; his defense was there to help.
Two pitches later, Urías induced a double-play groundout. The inning was over.
Flash forward to Sunday, when Urías found himself in a similar jam against the Colorado Rockies. In the fourth inning, a two-run home run by Alan Trejo tied the game. Urías yelled in frustration, not once but twice, as he walked back to the dugout.
Again, Rojas picked up his teammate ― not with his words, but with his bat. The light-hitting shortstop crushed a solo home run over the fence in left-center field in the fourth inning, and hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in his next at-bat. The Dodgers rolled to an 8-3 win, completing a four-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies and extending their season-long winning streak to eight.
“As a team, we’ve been playing really good,” Rojas said. “Unselfish approach at the plate. A lot of guys get on base different ways ― base hits, walks ― everybody fighting for the opportunity and for the rally. That’s why I was able to drive in four runs today. I had people on base.”
The Dodgers (71-46) have the longest active winning streak in MLB. They lead the second-place San Francisco Giants by 8 ½ games atop the National League West.
After Rojas’ second home run of the season gave the Dodgers a 4-3 lead, Urías returned to the mound and proceeded to strike everybody out. The left-hander struck out the side in the fifth and sixth innings. He struck out two of the three batters in the seventh inning to complete his 88-pitch effort.
Urías (10-6) fanned a career-high 12 batters in all. The left-hander allowed four hits and did not issue a walk. His seven consecutive strikeouts were two shy of a franchise record.
“When they gave me a lead, I was just able to go out there and maintain it and not allow them to score any more runs,” Urías said in Spanish.
Urías improved to 7-1 at Dodger Stadium this season; he is 3-5 on the road with a 6.80 ERA.
Rojas drove in half of the Dodgers’ runs despite collecting only one hit, a 388-foot blast against Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland (4-13) that snuck out over the left-center field fence.
After Rojas’ sacrifice fly gave the Dodgers a 5-3 lead in the sixth inning, Mookie Betts (2 for 5) followed with a two-run double to put the game out of reach.
Every Dodgers starter reached base as the team combined for 10 hits.
The Dodgers struck first when Amed Rosario (2 for 3) doubled in the second inning and scored on an RBI single by Max Muncy.
Muncy eventually came around to score on an odd sequence: Rockies second baseman Brendan Rogers camped under a pop fly behind the bag, but let it hit the grass for an automatic out under the infield fly rule. Allowing the ball to drop gave Muncy time to tag up and score from third base, and the Dodgers led 2-0.
That inning ended when Kiké Hernandez sent a deep fly ball to the warning track in left field, where Jurickson Profar caught the ball before slamming into the fence. Profar had to leave the game with a twisted left knee.
After the two teams traded runs in the third inning, Trejo tied the game 3-3 with one swing in the fourth inning. He ambushed an 0-and-1 changeup down the middle of the plate from Urías. It was only the second home run this season for Trejo, a native of Downey and a teammate of Urías’ in the World Baseball Classic with Team Mexico.
“I regained focus after that hit and did a good job attacking hitters,” Urías said about Trejo’s homer.
Alex Vesia and Victor Gonzalez each threw a scoreless inning in relief of Urías. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Urías could have gone out for the eighth inning on merit, but he is starting to become mindful of conserving pitchers’ innings with an eye toward the postseason.
Only the Atlanta Braves in the National League, and the Baltimore Orioles in the American League, have better records than the Dodgers. They’re a long way from counting magic numbers, but games this week against two teams in playoff position (Milwaukee and Miami) will be a good test of the Dodgers’ magic.
“I’m certain that we won’t lose that edge, that urgency, going into this postseason,” Roberts said.