No one is perfect, not even the Dodgers.
The team’s momentum hit a snag in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field after they squandered a number of chances.
Even the Dodgers’ hottest hitter cooled off like the night did. Overall, they went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and eight runners on base, including two in the ninth.
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Currently sitting at 15-5, this was their first loss in five games and their first loss to an NFC opponent all season
Read more: Tyler Glasnow leads Dodgers to win in Colorado in cold weather
The Dodgers’ expensive new right fielder Kyle Tucker had three hits, including his third home run of the season. Replacement catcher Dalton Rushing hit his fifth home run.
But that’s all the damage the Dodgers did in backing starter Emmitt Sheehan, who walked away with a one-run lead that reliever Will Klein gave up in the sixth inning with just three batters.
Shohei Ohtani hit a single in the ninth inning, tying Willie Keeler’s record of 50 games set in 1901 for the best number of at-bats in his career.
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The two-time World Series champion delivered his proverbial first punch when Tucker blasted a 435-foot, two-run homer off the second plate, striking out both batters in the game to make it 2-0.
Tucker’s third homer for the Dodgers hit Ohtani, who chipped on the first pitch he saw and would have been out in the first but for an error by Johnston.
The Rockies responded in the bottom half of the first with a double from Mickey Moniak and a single from TJ Rumfield to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Dodgers struck back quickly in the second inning, and Rushing — his only start behind the plate this series — kept the pressure on with a 1-1 pitch 371 feet over the right field wall to make it 3-1. Prior to that, it was his fifth home run in 18 at-bats.
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The Dodgers hit two home runs in the first two innings, giving them multiple homers in 10 of their first 20 games this season and bringing their team total to 37 home runs this season, tops in MLB.
But the Rockies got serve back in the bottom of the second inning when Johnston scored on Kyle Carruth’s sacrifice fly to make it 3-2.
That’s how it went over the next three innings, with Sheehan unscathed in the third and fourth innings, even though the Rockies put runners in scoring position in both the third and fourth innings. His only 1-2-3 inning was a nine-pitch fifth inning.
Read more: Dodgers don’t need Shohei Ohtani’s bat, just his arm as they beat Mets
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His control wasn’t as sharp as before, but he left after a five-inning lead and allowed four hits and two runs on 77 pitches, striking out four and walking two.
The Dodgers got going again in the sixth inning when Freddie Freeman hit a triple into Colorado’s vast outfield, just beyond the reach of diving outfielder Brenton Doyle.
After the batter, Rockies diving third baseman Kyle Karros made a nice pass after Teoscar Hernández hit the ball over the line, keeping Freeman at third in the process.
Then left-hander Brennan Bernardino came on and tangled up a curve ball with a visibly frustrated Max Muncy, knocking him out to end a scoreless game and putting Freeman on third.
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Klein took the loss after taking over the Dodgers in the sixth inning and immediately gave up a double to Goodman before Ezequiel Tovar’s grounder bounced off Klein’s left foot and right knee. Tovar arrived before Freeman intercepted the ball and passed to Klein first.
Johnston’s two-run homer scored, giving Colorado a 4-3 lead.
In the eighth inning, “Let’s go Dodgers,” Pages was batting, Ohtani and Tucker were at first and second base, and people were chanting “Let’s go Dodgers.” But Pages struck out, determined to find the bottom of the zone via baseball’s new ABS system.
Hernandez then walked to load the bases, but Muncy’s grounder to second base stranded more runners.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.