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Jul 6, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) celebrates with catcher Dalton Rushing (68) after hitting a two run home run against the Colorado Rockies in the third inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
The streak of no extra-inning games is finally over, and we can say that the Dodgers are undefeated in extras this season, walking it off against the Rockies 8-7 in the 11th inning. The decisive hit in this thrilling game came from the bat of Dalton Rushing with an RBI single, completing a terrific three-hit performance for the Dodgers catcher.
Before they had to dig deep for this victory, the Dodgers got to experience the thin line in baseball between control of a game and the illusion of it. The home team saw a 6-3 lead collapse in the ninth as Tanner Scott had his first blowup outing in over a month, walking multiple hitters for the first time this season.
To acquire that 6-3 lead, Shohei Ohtani and Eric Lauer were the protagonists. As if facing Ohtani in and of itself wasn’t a daunting enough threat, Kyle Freeland did so for the second time in the third inning with a runner on base after allowing a leadoff double to Rushing. Whoever questioned the Ohtani-Rushing partnership in recent weeks needs to check their facts—it seemed to be working just fine when Ohtani gave the Dodgers their first lead of the game by driving in Rushing with a two-run homer, his 19th on the season and seventh against lefties—now just two short of 300 in his career.
This combination of Rushing and Ohtani would go on to lead the way for the Dodgers once again in the following inning. After Max Muncy and Miguel Rojas secured back-to-back RBI on a single and sac fly, respectively, Rushing once again set up Ohtani with a double, who then proceeded to drive in a pair, this time with just a two-run single.
Overall in this game, the four runs batted in by Ohtani represented a season-high mark at home and only the third time he’s achieved that number or higher this season. Ohtani’s three hits were also a season high for the reigning back-to-back NL MVP. All of that success that Ohtani and the rest of the Dodgers offense had against Freeland couldn’t be replicated facing Zach Agnos, who tossed three scoreless innings to keep Colorado with a puncher’s chance.
Still, the six runs scored by the offense between the third and fourth innings gave Lauer the comfort of pitching ahead. And before the bullpen surrendered that lead, Lauer delivered another productive outing, only running into a bit of trouble against the bottom of the order.
While the Rockies’ top four failed to record a hit versus the Dodgers starter, strictly reaching base on a couple of Kyle Karros walks, Ezequiel Tovar homered and was responsible for two of the Rockies’ three runs batted in across the first six innings. Once again, the strikeouts weren’t really there, with just a pair, but he didn’t need them. Lauer completed his quality start with a little support from the Rockies’ baserunning after Jake McCarthy failed to retouch second heading back to first on a casual one-out flyout.
What looked to be a smooth win after holds from Brock Stewart and Alex Vesia, despite the offense having stopped scoring in the fourth, all of a sudden turned worrisome in the blink of an eye—Scott provided a rollercoaster of emotions that culminated in the Rockies tying the game at six all. Colorado put two men on in scoring position with one out, and instead of pitching to Hunter Goodman, they intentionally walked him for the left-on-left matchup with T.J. Rumfield, a move that looked like it was going to work. Scott punched out Rumfield on three pitches, but there was still one out to go, and Cole Carrigg got a hold of a slider on the outside corner. Two runs came across to tie the game with a safe call overturned as the Pages-Rojas-Rushing combination gunned down Goodman at the plate, who displayed far too much athleticism on his slide for a major league catcher.
Perhaps more impressive than Scott’s blowup was the result of one specific at-bat against Tovar. Scott, who came into this matchup with just three walks in nearly 40 innings, managed to walk a hitter with a career 4.2% walk percentage.
Fitting to this team’s approach in many ways, but not to the context of the game, the Rockies played to hold serve in extra innings, prioritizing the one run in extras. With a bunt from Tyler Freeman and a groundball from McCarthy, the Rockies took the 7-6 lead but had no momentum to add to it against Edgardo Henríquez.
Considering the Dodgers had the heart of the order coming up in the bottom of the 10th, that felt like a questionable approach from Colorado, and sure enough, the Dodgers made them pay, even if once again defense played a key role in this one. Mookie Betts, who was 0 for 4 with all flyouts, had a man on third and one out; he hit a bullet at the second baseman, who had the chance to catch it, but only knocked it down, allowing the Dodgers to tie the game. Right-hander Jimmy Herget was brought on to face Teoscar Hernández with two on and two out after a Kyle Tucker single—Hernández did him a solid, swinging at a 3-0 pitch and hitting a soft liner that turned into an inning-ending double play.
Once again, the Rockies refused to do anything else other than play for the one run in the 11th, and this time it really came back to bite them. Edouard Julien was up with two on and no one out after a leadoff walk, and he bunted—a bunt that turned into a pop-up and didn’t even move the runners. Goodman hit into a double play, and just like that, the Dodgers just needed one to walk it off in the 11th. Protected by Ohtani on deck, following a Max Muncy walk and Tommy Edman bunt, Rushing sent everyone home.
Although it wasn’t necessarily the most impactful of hitting performances, Kyle Tucker quietly had another impressive individual night, securing a team-high three hits.
Game particulars
- Home runs: Shohei Ohtani (19), Ezequiel Tovar (8)
- WP— Edgardo Henríquez (3-0): 2 IP, 1 unearned run, 2 walks
- LP— Jimmy Herget (0-3): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 unearned run, 1 walk
Up next
The team leader in wins, Justin Wrobleksi, looks for his 11th on the season as the Dodgers host the Rockies for the second-to-last time on the season. Colorado will deploy another one of their veteran starters in Michael Lorenzen. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. (PT).
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