James Outman marked his MLB debut with a home run on the first swing. He finished with three hits and three RBIs, allowing the Los Angeles Dodgers to beat the Colorado Rockies by 7-3 on Sunday.
He became the eighth Dodgers player to homer in his first career plate appearance and the fourth since the team moved to Los Angeles, joining the ranks of Jose Offerman (1990), Garey Ingram (1994), and Keibert Ruiz (2020).
Outman recorded 21 homers in 90 games between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma this season. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Outman made quite a mark in the team’s history.
“From what I understand, it was historic,” Roberts said. “What a debut – three hits, a homer. Really fun to watch. You could just see his joy. A day that he’s dreamt about. For it to play out like this I can only imagine how he’s feeling, his family is feeling.”
The 25-year-old Outman said he had been dreaming about debuting in MLB in such a way.
“Yeah, I did (dream about having an MLB debut like this). I never really thought that it was gonna be something that was gonna happen,” Outman said. “Obviously, I dreamed of it, playing Wiffle ball in the backyard and stuff like that. But yeah, it’s awesome.”
Outman homered on a fastball from German Marquez, giving the Dodgers a 2-0 lead after Cody Bellinger scored a single to open the third inning with the home run landed in the Dodgers’ bullpen.
He singled in the seventh inning before making a double to the wall in the right-center in the eighth, earning the Dodgers a 7-3 lead.
“I think everyone was making jokes about, ‘The game’s pretty easy,’” Roberts said.
The Dodgers finished their month with an overall score of 21-5 (.808) in the series. This is the best record in baseball during the month, which is also their best winning percentage since 2017 at 20-3 (.870). Their current winning percentage is the fourth-best July in MLB history since 1900.
“Certainly the win-loss obviously has been fantastic. But just how we’re going about it is something that I think we can hang our hat on and continue to do,” Roberts said.
James Outman homers in his first MLB at-bat! 😱 pic.twitter.com/gjEYyTVesq
— MLB (@MLB) July 31, 2022
Dodgers vs. Rockies
During the game, the Dodgers needed another two-run inning in the fourth to lead. Cody Bellinger went for an RBI double. Later, the Dodgers scored a second run when Rockies right fielder Randal Grichuk fumbled the ball, one of the seven errors by the Rockies in the four-game series.
This mistake allowed Dodgers starter Tony Gonsolin to take the lead. He only started slowing down when he went past the 100-inning mark.
“Everybody goes through their ups and downs,” Gonsolin said. “Hopefully, this is just a quick down, and then we can turn it around.”
Gonsolin lasted only five innings for the second time in his past three starts and gave up three runs or more for the third consecutive start. He only did that once throughout his first 16 starts this season.