Eric Lauer made his Dodgers debut with six strong innings as Mookie Betts hit two homers and drove in five runs, helping Los Angeles demolish the Colorado Rockies 15-6 on Tuesday night. The Dodgers tied a season high with 15 runs, while Shohei Ohtani was limit
For Eric Lauer, Tuesday night started with nerves and ended with something closer to relief. In his Dodgers debut. the former Toronto Blue Jays left-hander took the mound at Dodger Stadium and delivered six innings with one run allowed on four hits and a walk. striking out four as Los Angeles blew past the Colorado Rockies 15-6.
Mookie Betts made sure the spotlight stayed on Lauer’s first steps in Dodger blue. Betts homered twice, drove in five runs, and powered a Dodgers barrage that tied a season high with 15 runs. Los Angeles finished with 17 hits and kept the Rockies off balance for much of the game. allowing Colorado just four runs through the first eight innings before the late damage.
Lauer. who came to the Dodgers for cash earlier this month after struggling with Toronto this season following a strong 2025 campaign. said the night felt good. “It was fun. It was nice to get back out there and play some ball again,” he told reporters after the game. “It’s always fun playing at Dodger Stadium and now I get to do it a lot more. Really excited about that.”.
Colorado did find a brief push late. In the ninth, the Rockies scored five runs and collected eight hits off position player Miguel Rojas, who came in to pitch. But by then, the Dodgers’ damage was already done, and it showed in the sheer pace of the scoring.
The game swung early with Betts. He got the home run derby going in the bottom of the first with a two-run. two-out shot off Rockies starter Kyle Freeland (1-6). Betts danced around second base and pumped his fist as he followed through on a blast that also carried the weight of frustration at the plate—he was batting .165 when the night began. Manager Dave Roberts had dropped Betts to fourth from second in the order.
The Rockies answered quickly. Colorado pulled to 2-1 on Hunter Goodman’s homer off Lauer in the second on Lauer’s first pitch of the inning. Then, catcher Brett Sullivan homered off Rojas and Kyle Karros added a three-run shot.
Still, the Dodgers’ momentum never loosened. Kiké Hernández led off the third with his first homer of the season a night after making his season debut. Hernández had missed the first 53 games while recovering from offseason left elbow surgery. and he left the game in the fifth with a left oblique strain.
Andy Pages then stretched the lead with a 418-foot shot—the longest homer of the game—to left-center. Pages tied his career high with four hits, and the Dodgers followed with a relentless fourth inning.
Los Angeles added four runs in the fourth: Rojas scored on a wild pitch by Freeland. Pages had a two-run double. and he also scored on Freddie Freeman’s sacrifice fly that made it 8-1. In the fifth. the Dodgers scored two more—on Rojas’ RBI double and Hyeseong Kim’s sacrifice fly off Agnos. with defensive replacement Hyeseong Kim in the mix.
Then the sixth inning flipped the game into something one-sided enough that even the score felt like it didn’t fully capture how far the gap had opened. Betts powered a five-run sixth with a three-run shot to center. Will Smith followed with a two-run homer, pushing the Dodgers’ lead to 15-1.
Ohtani was left out of the offensive onslaught, and the night had a different kind of concern wrapped into it. Shohei Ohtani went 0 for 2 with a run scored. He was hit on the right hand by a pitch from Rockies starter Kyle Freeland in the fourth, then left the game in the fifth after grounding out.
Lauer’s afternoon wasn’t just about results—it was about what his new team asked him to be. “They kept it pretty simple for me this week to where it wasn’t like let’s work on too many things. let’s make adjustments. ” Lauer said. “They said just go out there and kind of be yourself … We want to see what you’re like as a normal guy and then we’ll kind of tinker after that.”.
The Dodgers weren’t finished with their pitching plan either. Rojas pitched the ninth in his 10th career mound appearance and second this season.
Looking ahead, the next matchup is already set for an all-Japanese finale. Colorado RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (4-3, 3.86 ERA) will start Wednesday against Dodgers RHP Shohei Ohtani (4-2, 0.73).
Dodgers Eric Lauer Mookie Betts Rockies Kiké Hernández Andy Pages Will Smith Shohei Ohtani Kyle Freeland Tomoyuki Sugano Hyeseong Kim Brett Sullivan Kyle Karros