Since the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired southpaw Eric Lauer from the Toronto Blue Jays after they dumped him at the beginning of May, the 31-year-old has been the most unexpected (and most reliable) pickup for the Dodgers in recent memory.

Though he exited the game with a 6-3 lead in the sixth, the Colorado Rockies fought all the way back to put this game in extra innings. After a back-and-forth quandary between the two clubs, it was Dalton Rushing who poked the walk-off winner up the middle in the 11th to give the Dodgers an 8-7 victory. 

“He had a great night. He just willed himself to make something happen. He was finding his way to put the ball in play," Dave Roberts said on Rushing's performance at the plate via SportsNetLA. 

For Lauer, that marked his fourth quality start in a Dodgers uniform and in the games he has started, Los Angeles is a perfect 7-0. 

Lauer has posted a 3.12 ERA in his last 40.1 innings pitched and has gone 3-0 in his last six starts. 

"I think overall I was pretty happy with how I was commanding the ball," Lauer said on his outing via SportsNetLA. 

Even with Lauer's command consistently hitting the strike zone, he was still critical of how he was allowing hits. 

"There was a few pitches that I missed locations pretty bad. So that kind of allowed them to put the ball in play. Overall, I'm a little frustrated with how I was throwing the ball. Definitely some things to tighten down. 

 As Lauer was holding the fort down on the mound, the Dodgers' offense picked him with an explosive fourth inning off Rockies veteran right-hander Kyle Freeland. 

Just before all of that, Shohei Ohtani put the Dodgers in front in the bottom half of the third inning with a two-home run. That was not only Ohtani's 19th home run of the season (his first long ball of July), but it was also his 299th career home run.

In the fourth, Max Muncy led off the scoring surge with an RBI single following back-to-back hits from Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernández. Miguel Rojas followed that up with a sacrifice fly and Ohtani drove in two more runs on an RBI single as he went 3-for-4 with four RBIs. 

“Tonight was the first night in a while that he actually looked like Shohei," Roberts said. 

The Rockies remained silent at the plate all the way up until the ninth inning, when Colorado jumped on Tanner Scott. 

Kyle Karros kicked off the inning with an RBI double that cut the deficit to 6-4. Cole Carrigg made a splash by slashing a bases-clearing RBI double that would have put the Rockies ahead, but a close play at the plate went the Dodgers' way. 

Unfortunately, this led to the first extra-innings game that the Dodgers have played all year. Their streak of 91 consecutive games without playing in extras was snapped. 

Colorado wasted no time as they scored in the top half of the 10th inning after Jake McCarthy grounded out to Freddie Freeman. His throw to the plate was late and Rushing's added tag — along with some added verbiage between the two — sparked a near-benches-clearing altercation. 

The Dodgers re-tied the game in their bottom half of the 10th with a Mookie Betts RBI single. That hit extended his on-base streak to 16 games.

Fast forward to the Dodgers' home half of the 11th. Rushing was up with runners on second and third — all thanks to Tommy Edman's second sacrifice bunt — which allowed Rushing to poke a broken-bat RBI single to walk it off. 

With the win, the Dodgers become the first team in baseball to reach 60 wins. 

And, if it was ever more evident, Los Angeles extends their lead in the National League West Division to 14 games. 

Justin Wrobleski will toe the rubber on Tuesday with the Dodgers looking for their fourth consecutive series win. 

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