Outman homers in first MLB at-bat, Dodgers top Rockies 7-3
DENVER — James Outman homered on the first swing of his first big-league plate appearance and finished with three hits and three RBIs as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies 7-3 Sunday and closed out July with 21 victories.
Freddie Freeman added three hits and an RBI, passing teammate Trea Turner for the MLB lead in hits. Tony Gonsolin (12-1) bounced back from his first loss of the season as the Dodgers finished the month 21-5, tying the franchise record for most wins in July. They scored 147 runs in the month.
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“Obviously I’ve dreamed of it, playing Wiffle ball in the back yard and stuff like that,” Outman said of homering in his first at-bat. “I never really thought it was going to be something that was going to happen. It’s awesome. When I hit it I thought it had a chance. I didn’t want to be the first guy to hit a ball off the wall and have it be a single for my first hit, so I was running out of the box.”
Outman became the eighth Dodgers player in franchise history — the fourth since the move to Los Angeles — to homer in his first career plate appearance, joining Jose Offerman (1990), Garey Ingram (1994) and Keibert Ruiz (2020). Outman had 21 homers in 90 games between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma this season before being promoted Saturday.
He is the only Los Angeles Dodger in franchise history with three hits and three RBIs in his first game, and he is first major leaguer since Joey Gallo with three hits, including a homer and three RBIs, in his debut. Gallo did it June 2, 2015.
“Historic — what a debut,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Really fun to watch. You can just see his joy. A day that he has dreamt about, and for it to play out like this. Today was about James Outman, and I couldn’t be more happy.”
The 25-year-old Outman, with a 1-1 count, homered on a 95 mph fastball from German Marquez (6-9) to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead after Cody Bellinger singled to open the third inning. The homer landed in the Dodgers’ bullpen and was retrieved by Alex Vesia, who passed it to Outman in the clubhouse.
“I’m going to stare at it for a long time, and then I’m going to put it up in my childhood room next to all my other baseball stuff,” Outman said of the ball. “I have a shelf of all my Little League home runs. That might top them all.”
Outman singled and scored in the seventh inning and drove in a run with a double to the wall in right-center in the eighth, helping push the Dodgers lead to 7-3. Outman was the Dodgers’ seventh-round pick in the 2018 draft.
“I’m usually just trying to hit the ball as hard as I can, hit a line drive somewhere,” Outman said.
Gonsolin gave up three runs — all in the third inning — and five hits while striking out six and walking one. He has given up at least three earned runs in each of his last three starts, after giving up two or fewer in his first 15. He has pitched a career-high 104 2/3 innings this season.
“Everybody goes through their ups and downs,” said Gonsolin, whose ERA is 2.41. “Hopefully, this is just a quick down and we can turn it around going into the next start.”
Brian Serven homered for Colorado to open the three-run third off Gonsolin, and the Rockies loaded the bases without getting the ball out of the infield on a hit batter, a walk, and dribbler on the chalk down the third-base line. Grichuk lined a two-run single to right for a 3-2 lead.
Grichuk had his third straight multi-hit game and was 7 for 16 in the four-game series.
The Dodgers scored two in the fourth inning for a 4-3 lead, taking advantage of the Rockies’ sloppy defense. With a runner on first and one out, second baseman Brendan Rodgers bobbled a potential inning-ending double play grounder before settling for an out at first. After a walk put runners on first and second, Bellinger doubled in one run, and the second scored when Grichuk misplayed the ball in right.
“Some uncharacteristic things happened,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “You can’t do that against a good team.”
