The Dodgers are set to open a series against the Rockies on Friday with Kyle Freeland on the mound opposite Eric Lauer, a matchup that already went badly once for Colorado. It is the last Colorado visit to Los Angeles this season, and this one brings the same starters back together after Lauer’s first turn as a Dodger a little over a month ago.
That first meeting was lopsided from the start. The Dodgers scored 15 runs in Lauer’s debut and rolled to a blowout win, the kind of result that turned a routine pitching assignment into an early marker for how steady he has been since joining Los Angeles. In seven outings, he has helped the Dodgers win every time, going 6-0 while working 34.1 innings with an ERA under 3.00. For a rotation piece who arrived without much fuss, the return has been immediate and very visible.
Freeland arrives carrying the other end of the story. His 7.25 ERA is the worst mark in baseball among pitchers with at least 60 innings, a number that has followed him into this start and makes the rematch matter for more than just the novelty of seeing the same pairing again. On paper, the gap is stark: one starter has given the Dodgers a win every time out, while the other has spent the season trying to keep games from slipping away early.
The backdrop is a Dodgers team that has been leaning on results without much room for comfort. They beat the Padres 4-3 on Friday night at Dodger Stadium after Teoscar Hernandez hit a go-ahead grand slam, then lost 7-1 to the Athletics on Wednesday. So the start of this series is not just another date on the schedule. It is a chance for Los Angeles to keep extending what Lauer has already built, while Freeland tries to show that one harsh season line does not have to define the next 90 pitches.
That is what makes Rockies Vs Dodgers worth watching now: the same matchup that opened Lauer’s Dodgers run is back, and this time the result will say whether his start can keep holding up, or whether Freeland can finally bend a season that has mostly gone the other way.
