On a night where Russell Martin got to take off, it was his replacement Brad Ausmus who delivered the biggest hit. With 2 down and James Loney on 2nd in the top of the 9th, Ausmus singled him home to put the Dodgers up for good, 6-5.
This was a back-and-forth ballgame between the Dodgers and Rockies, who both took turns not being able to put the other team away in the 8th. But it all worked out in the end as the Dodgers improved to 12-5, tied for the Cardinals for tops in the National League.
Once again, the Dodgers were able to make a lot of noise in the 1st, though it could have been much more. Rafael Furcal singled and Orlando Hudson walked, leading to an RBI single by Manny Ramirez. Man, have those 3 been awesome so far or what? Andre Either followed with an RBI single of his own for a 2-0 advantage. James Loney then walked to load 'em up.
With nobody down, the Dodgers wasted a great opportunity to blow the game open early when Matt Kemp forced out Manny at home and Casey Blake grounded into a DP. The Rockies then got an RBI single from Todd Helton to cut it to 2-1.
From there, the Rockies chipped away at Eric Stults, who was constantly playing with fire all night. They added single runs in the 3rd and 4th to take the 3-2 lead. But the Rockies also left the bases loaded in the 1st, grounded into a DP in the 3rd, left 2 on in the 4th, and were caught stealing in the 5th.
Overall, Stults went 5 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 3 K. 12 baserunners in 5 innings isn't good at all, yet he only gave up 3 runs. The Rockies ended up losing by a run, so you know they are kicking themselves for not cashing in at least a couple more of those runners. That was the difference in the ballgame.
Ethier tied it up at 3 with a double in the 5th. In the 8th, a big 2-out rally put the Dodgers up 5-3 and looking good. Ausmus doubled with 1 down and Mark Loretta, pinch-hitting for Ronald Belisario, drove him in with a single. A wild pitch with Manny up pushed it to 5-3.
So here we go again - the Dodgers with a small lead in the 8th, and Hong-Chih Kuo gets the call. And once again, he failed miserably. This time it was a pinch-hit, 2 run homer by Clint Barmes that tied it at 5 all. Kuo even beaned Ryan Spilborghs and then uncorked a wild pitch that sent him to 2nd, but stranded him there. With an 8.31 ERA, it's not looking good for him right now.
Much to the Dodgers credit, they fought back after that huge blow by Barmes, and they did it without Manny doing all the work. It was James Loney who lead off with a double, and then Ausmus delivered the game-winning hit. Jonathan Broxton worked around an error by Hudson and a walk to Troy Tulowitzki to strike out the last 2 hitters for save #6.
Other than Kuo's latest meltdown, it was an impressive win for the Dodgers. They still left 11 men on base, which is too many, but the Rockies actually topped that with 12, so it's basically a wash. Stults didn't fool many people, but got the big outs when he needed to. With 3 starts and a 3.52 ERA, I'm sure Joe Torre will gladly take that.
2 more adventures are on tap this weekend in Coors Field, and young James McDonald gets thrown to the wolves tomorrow. He didn't give up a run to them last Sunday in LA over 4.1 innings, so we'll see how he does the 2nd time around in less than a week.
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