Rockies bullpen suffers controversial meltdown in loss to Dodgers

It was a meltdown for the ages. Spiced with controversy and fury.

The Rockies were one strike away from pulling out a 9-8 victory over the Dodgers on Tuesday night at Coors Field. And the Rockies were 100% certain they got the strike three they needed on Victor Vodnik’s 99.8 mph fastball to Teoscar Hernandez.

Instead, the Rockies lost 11-9, as the Dodgers erupted for seven runs in the ninth, topped off by Hernandez’s three-run homer one pitch later.

Hernandez checked his swing on Vodnik’s two-strike pitch and the Rockies appealed to first-base umpire Lance Barksdale, positive Hernandez had swung to end the game. To no avail.

Manager Bud Black went ballistic and immediately got tossed. Rockies right-fielder Jake Cave went ballistic, too, and had to be restrained from going after Barksdale.

When all the fire and smoke cleared, Colorado’s incredibly unstable bullpen cost them another game. Earlier in the inning, Jason Heyward launched a pinch-hit grand slam homer off Tyler Kinley. Heyward’s blast clanged off the right-field foul pole and set the stage for Hernandez’s blast.

Colorado wasted a brilliant game by center fielder Brenton Doyle.

The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani might be the world’s favorite baseball superhero, and yes, he launched a majestic 476-foot home run, but he was no match for Doyle. With the Rockies clinging to an 8-4 lead, Doyle played Superman for the final out of the seventh inning.

The Rockies’ center fielder went airborne to rob Ohtani of an extra-base hit that would have driven in two runs and might have resulted in a triple — perhaps even an inside-the-park homer. The ball rocketed off Ohtani’s bat at 111.7 mph.

Doyle put some sugar on his sweet catch with a career-high four hits, including a one-out solo homer in the fourth off Walker Buehler.

Colorado also got a needed boost from starter Austin Gomber, who put the brakes on his June swoon.

Yes, the lefty served up the epic solo homer to Ohtani in the sixth inning — a blast that prompted oohs and ahs from the crowd. And Gomber also gave up a solo homer to Andy Page in the second. But Gomber provided Colorado the start it needed to topple the powerhouse Dodgers.

Gomber had a magnificent May, going 1-0 with a 0.68 ERA in four starts. But during his first three starts in June, all on the road, he was 0-2 with a 12.27 ERA. Last Wednesday at Minnesota, the Twins ambushed Gomber’s off-speed pitches and blasted him for eight runs on a career-high tying 11 hits in just three innings.

But Gomber gave the Rockies 6 2/3 innings Tuesday night, allowing four runs on five hits. He struck out three and walked two. He was in line to pitch seven innings but gave up a two-out walk to Kike Hernandez and an RBI double to Miguel Vargas as the Dodgers whittled the lead to 8-4.

Left reliever Jalen Beeks took over and promptly walked Chris Taylor, setting the stage for Doyle’s highlight-reel catch of Ohtani’s liner.