The Los Angeles Dodgers have started strong in defense of their second straight World Series championship.
They will look to continue that success when they open a four-game series against the Colorado Rockies on Friday night in Denver.
Los Angeles will send Tyler Glasnow (1-0, 4.00 ERA) to the mound against Colorado’s Tomoyuki Sugano (1-0, 2.16) in a matchup of right-handers.
The Dodgers completed a 5-1 homestand to improve to 14-4 this season. They won 11 of the 13 games against the Rockies in 2025 and are 31-8 against them since 2022.
Glasnow is 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA in two career appearances (one start) against Colorado. He will pitch in hitter-friendly Coors Field for the first time.
Batting in altitude could benefit the Dodgers’ Kyle Tucker, who was one of the biggest free-agent signings of the winter. He has struck out 17 times in 67 at-bats this season (25.4%) after fanning just 88 times in 500 at-bats last season (17.6%) with the Chicago Cubs.
“He’s not a guy that typically chases down below, but he’s chasing a lot more down below, for me,” manager Dave Roberts said. “… Typically when guys chase, they’re trying to do a little bit too much.”
Tucker acknowledges he has been chasing pitches. He is batting only .239, with two homers and 11 RBIs.
“Sometimes you just find yourself chasing more; you just have to try and just narrow your zone a little bit and look in certain parts in the zone, rather than just like swinging at whatever’s thrown,” he said.
Tucker has faced Sugano once in his career, going 0-for-3 last year while Sugano was pitching for Baltimore. Sugano took the loss in his lone career encounter against the Dodgers, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits in three innings.
Sugano is three starts into his first season with Colorado and second one in the majors. He pitched 12 seasons for Tokyo’s Yomiuri Giants before signing first with the Orioles and then with the Rockies on a one-year, $5.1 million deal.
The 36-year-old has pitched well for a team that has stumbled at the start of the season.
“When you throw strikes, you’re usually efficient, and Sugano attacks the strike zone,” Colorado manager Warren Schaeffer said. “He’s done it in at least the first three outings (with the Rockies), and he’s done it his whole life.”
Sugano will try to pitch Colorado to its second straight win overall and its fifth in a row at home. The Rockies lost the first six games of the road trip to San Diego and Houston before squeaking out a 3-2 victory over the Astros on Thursday night.
The bullpen was sharp even though Colorado lost the first two games of the series, throwing 18 scoreless innings against the Astros.
Hunter Goodwin hit a solo homer on Thursday, marking the third time he had gone deep in the series vs. Houston.
–Field Level Media
