DENVER -- What might have been a nightmare scenario last year became Rockies right-handed reliever Jaden Hill’s dream come true on Saturday night.
Left-handed hitters posted a .280 batting average against Hill last year in his rookie season. But after changing his slider over the winter, Hill made it such a weapon against lefties that manager Warren Schaeffer made Hill his trusted late-inning guy – even in Saturday’s eighth inning against the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker, Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy with a one-run lead.
Hill had so much confidence in his growth that he pitched around Teoscar Hernández for a walk that loaded the bases, then forced a Muncy rollover grounder to second base. Hill handed the lead to Victor Vodnik, whose scoreless ninth gave the Rockies a confidence-inducing 4-3 victory before a sellout crowd of 47,925 at Coors Field.
Vodnik lived the same dream in the ninth, when Will Smith’s two-out, pinch-hit single brought up Ohtani with a chance to flip the result. Ohtani singled to extend his on-base streak to 50 games, but Vodnik forced a Tucker fly to left for his third save of the season.
Troy Johnston’s two-run double in the sixth put the Rockies ahead, and the team benefitted from starter Ryan Feltner shaking off a two-run Tucker homer in the first and a Dalton Rushing solo shot in the second to go 5 2/3.
When the game turned over to Hill, Ohtani reached on a catcher’s interference, and Tucker singled through an opening left of third base. But Hill fanned Andy Pages and worked Freeman into a fly to deep center before working ahead of Muncy, 0-2, then forcing the grounder.