Colorado 7, LA Dodgers 6
When: 8:10 PM ET, Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Where: Coors Field, Denver, Colorado
Temperature:
64°
Umpires:
Home -
Jeff Nelson, 1B -
Lazaro Diaz, 2B -
Cory Blaser, 3B -
Chris Guccione
Attendance:
24575
By The Sports Xchange
DENVER -- After a bitter loss Tuesday night, the Colorado Rockies insisted the defeat would not linger and produce any carryover effect.
True to their word, the Rockies rallied for three runs in the ninth inning Wednesday to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-6 and split a four-game series.
Third baseman Nolan Arenado hit a sacrifice fly that gave the Rockies their second walk-off win of the season.
The Dodgers were one strike away from defeat Tuesday night when Alex Guerrero hit a grand slam, lifting Los Angeles to a 9-8 win.
"For how bad that loss hurt, this win feels good," said shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who hit a three-run homer in the fifth that put the Rockies ahead 4-2 and drove in five runs. "It was like we traded off games there."
After setting the Rockies down in order in the eighth, Los Angeles reliever Adam Liberatore gave up a leadoff single in the ninth to pinch hitter Michael McKenry and a ground-rule double to center fielder Charlie Blackmon, his fourth hit of the game.
Yimi Garcia (2-2) relieved Liberatore and walked second baseman DJ LeMahieu to load the bases, then walked Tulowitzki to force in a run that made it 6-5.
Catcher Yasmani Grandal was unable to handle left-hander J.P. Howell's first pitch to right fielder Carlos Gonzalez, and the passed ball allowed Blackmon to score the tying run. Howell intentionally walked Gonzalez to load the bases again.
Right-hander Chris Hatcher came on to face Arenado, who fell behind 0-2 before hitting a game-winning fly to center that sailed over the five-man infield the Dodgers employed.
"I was just trying to get the ball to the outfield," Arenado said.
Why the Dodgers didn't turn to closer Kenley Jansen in the ninth is uncertain. He saved Tuesday night's game while throwing 16 pitches in a scoreless ninth. Jansen had not pitched in seven days before Tuesday.
"He just wasn't available tonight," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "I'm not talking. I don't know who wants to talk about it, but I'm not the one talking about it."
Jansen refused to comment after the game.
The Dodgers didn't do much against Chad Bettis, but once the Colorado starter's pitch count -- 102 in six innings -- forced him from the game, Los Angeles quickly mounted a three-run rally in the seventh to go ahead 5-4.
That uprising began against Christian Friedrich, who gave up singles to the three batters he faced, the last a run-scoring flare to center by first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.
Brooks Brown relieved Friedrich and blew his second save in as many days. He walked second baseman Howie Kendrick to load the bases for right fielder Andre Ethier, who grounded a two-run single into right that put the Dodgers up a run.
Center fielder Joc Pederson's 17th homer in the eighth made it 6-4 and made him the first Dodger rookie ever to homer in five consecutive games.
Rockies closer John Axford (1-0) pitched the ninth, stranding a runner at third and setting the stage for Colorado's turnabout-is-fair-play drama in the bottom of the inning, drama that resulted after some urging from Axford.
"Selfishly, it's the first thing I said when I got in the dugout," Axford said. "'Give me my first Rockies win.' I didn't say it to myself; I said it to everybody."
Bettis is fast becoming a dependable starter for the Rockies. He gave up two runs, one earned, in six innings, giving him a 1.21 ERA in his past three starts.
"The separation (in velocity) he has between his fastball and his off-speed stuff is tough to deal with," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "He's really given us a shot in the arm. Chad's really done a great job for us. He's been a huge bright spot for us. I'm real encouraged about what we've seen."
NOTES: The start of the game was delayed 2 hours, 10 minutes by rain, and there was a 16-minute rain del
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
| LA Dodgers |
|
Colorado |
|
Michael Bolsinger |
Player |
Chad Bettis
|
|
No Decision |
W/L |
No Decision |
|
5.0 |
IP |
6.0 |
|
3 |
Strikeouts |
5 |
|
6 |
Hits |
5 |
|
7.20 |
ERA |
1.50 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| LA Dodgers
|
11 |
1 |
17 |
.306 |
18 |
7 |
5 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
| Colorado
|
10 |
1 |
15 |
.294 |
12 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
2 |
1 |
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