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Dalton Rushing capped a three-hit night with a walk-off single in the 11th inning, giving the Dodgers an 8-7 win over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday, per the Los Angeles Times. It was the kind of game that tests your patience — extra innings, bullpen juggling, a back-and-forth scoreline — but Rushing made sure we came out on top.

Rushing has been one of the most exciting young pieces in our lineup since arriving in the majors. The left-handed hitting catcher was the Dodgers’ first-round pick (15th overall) in the 2022 draft out of Louisville, and he climbed through the system fast for a reason. He has legitimate power from the left side, a disciplined approach at the plate, and he’s shown an ability to handle velocity and breaking stuff at the big league level. A three-hit game in a high-leverage, extra-inning situation is exactly the kind of performance that builds confidence for a young player still establishing himself. Rushing’s bat has been his calling card since college, and nights like this reinforce why the organization has believed in him as a cornerstone behind the plate going forward.

The Rockies are not exactly a juggernaut, but extra-inning games are their own animal. Once you get past the ninth, the automatic runner rule compresses every at-bat, every pitch sequence. Winning those games comes down to who delivers in the moment, and Rushing did exactly that. Three hits across 11 innings of work is a full night, and to finish it off with the walk-off single shows a young hitter who isn’t shrinking in big spots.

For the Dodgers, this is a game you simply have to win. We’re deep into the first half, the schedule doesn’t let up, and dropping extra-inning home games to Colorado is the kind of thing that quietly costs you in September. The bullpen had to grind through extra frames, so keeping an eye on arm workloads this week is fair. But the takeaway here is Rushing. He’s developing into exactly the kind of player we need — a young bat in the lineup who can produce when the moment gets tight. If he keeps hitting like this, the conversation about him shifts from “promising prospect” to “lineup fixture” in a hurry. That’s the trajectory you want to see.

Source(s): Staff (Los Angeles Times) | First reported: July 7, 2026 6:11 AM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers