Rockies doomed by free passes at Dodger Stadium, fall to 1-4 on road trip

Rockies Report, Game 55:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: Warren Schaeffer has lamented the walks issued by his pitching staff recently, and in the seventh inning on Monday night, two leadoff walks issued by Juan Mejia and a subsequent plunking of Miguel Rojas by Brennan Bernardino loaded the bases with no outs, setting up a four-run explosion that doomed Colorado to a 5-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

A groundout and a sacrifice fly tied the game, and then Freddie Freeman clubbed a Bernardino offering to the right-field wall, scoring Shohei Ohtani from second base to put the Dodgers in front to stay. Jaden Hill replaced Bernardino, but the onslaught continued, as Pages delivered an opposite-field line-drive single to score Freeman, completing the four-run damage.

“Walk, walk, hit by pitch, that’s not earning it,” Schaeffer told media after the game.

“… Late in the game, against a good team in their yard, that’s not gonna work.”

The Rockies got some good news from the X-ray results on TJ Rumfield after he was hit in the hand by an Emmet Sheehan pitch in the first inning.

“They were good. Nothing’s broken. So, that’s an excellent sign,” Schaeffer said.

More good news came in the form of Ezequiel Tovar hitting his first home run since March 28. He went 2-for-3 Monday night. 
But it wasn’t enough, as Colorado fell to 20-35.

TOVI SENDS IT OUT 💥 pic.twitter.com/DKoHl1nVtk

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) May 26, 2026

ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT

Tanner Gordon received his first start of the season and delivered his best night of work, limiting the dodgers to six hits and a walk, allowing only a single run despite letting the leadoff batter reach base in four of the five innings he worked.

“I thought TG was fantastic, just attacking the strike zone, getting out of jams a couple of times,” Schaeffer said. He didn’t waver.”

It was an excellent rebound from last Tuesday against Texas, when he worked 6 1/3 innings following an opener and allowed 12 hits and a walk as the Rangers peppered him en route to a 10-0 shellacking.

BITS AND PIECES

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Braxton Fulford struck out with Willi Castro on base for the final out.

NUMBER TO NOTE: .306 — Tovar’s average since May 8; he entered that game hitting .186. He’s now up to .217 this season. “He keeps progressing. People that watch every day, I hope they see how hard he’s trying to make adjustments, and it’s paying off,” Schaeffer said.

WHAT’S NEXT: Two pitchers with ERAs of well over 6.00 take the mound: Kyle Freeland (7.04) for the Rockies and Eric Lauer (6.69) for Los Angeles. First pitch on Tuesday will be at 8:10 p.m. MDT.

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