Rod Barajas provided the power on Friday night, hitting a three-run homer and RBI single in helping the Dodgers beat the Rockies, 8-2. It was a rare night of run support for Hiroki Kuroda, who has now won two of his last three starts.
The Dodgers' bats were aggressive from the start. Justin Sellers has been turning heads since his callup on August 12, and he hit a double with one out hitting in the #2 spot. With Andre Ethier sitting the game out with an ingrown toenail, Aaron Miles hit third and delivered with an RBI single for the 1-0 lead.
Kuroda got through the first with ease, and the bats kept things going in the second. Juan Rivera led off with a double. An out later, Barajas began his big night with an RBI single, making it 2-0.
The third is when the Dodgers poured it on and gave Kuroda a rare big lead to work with. It started when Miles took a walk with one out, then went to second on a wild pitch. Matt Kemp struck out, but a rally started with two outs anyway. Speaking of rare, James Loney hit a rare RBI with a single. Barajas then flexed his muscle with a big three-run homer, and it was 6-0 just like that.
The Rockies got on the board in the third. Jonathan Herrera pinch-hit for Jason Hammel, who was yanked already, and walked with one out. Chris Nelson then singled with two outs, which led to an RBI single from Carlos Gonzalez to make it 6-1.
In the fourth, the Dodgers got that run right back from an unlikely source. Tony Gwynn only had six home runs in 474 career games coming into this one, but he turned on one and it went out to right for a solo shot, putting the score at 7-1.
If the Rockies were going to comeback, their best chance to get it done was in the sixth. Gonzalez walked leading off and Troy Tulowitzki followed with a double to put runners in scoring position. Todd Helton grounded out to second, but a run scored to make it 7-2. Kuroda then induced two straight lineouts to Kemp in center, and the Rockies never threatened again.
The final run of the game came in the seventh. Sellers reached on an infield single and Miles walked with one out. Kemp then hit an RBI single, his 90th of the season, and it was 8-2. The RBI puts him six behind Ryan Howard for tops in the National League.
The bullpen took over from there, as Kuroda exited after six. Matt Guerrier worked the seventh and only walked Eric Young. With rain falling in the eighth, Scott Elbert got a couple outs as well as surrendering a double to Tulo. Mike MacDougal got the last out. Blake Hawksworth pitched a perfect ninth to put it in the books.
With the win, the Dodgers are now deadlocked with the Rockies for third in the NL West. It doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot, but regardless of how disappointed each team is with how the season has gone, nobody wants to finish in last, currently occupied by the Padres. Going through an entire offseason knowing you finished in the cellar is a bad feeling.
Kuroda continues to be one of the top pitchers in baseball this season, despite a 9-14 record. In getting his first career win over the Rockies, he went six innings for four hits, two runs, three walks, and five strikeouts. A 2.88 ERA puts him 10th best in the NL. I just hope he resigns for next year, as a Kershaw-Kuroda combo would be tough to beat.
Barajas had to exit the game early with a mild groin strain, so his availability is most likely limited for the weekend. I mentioned the other day how he's pretty much all or nothing, but he's been on the "all" side the last couple of games with four hits, two homers, and five RBIs. With Kemp as the only other power source on the team, the Dodgers will gladly take the hot streak.
Pitching well in Coors Field is never an easy task, even if the place isn't quite the launching pad it used to be. Still, the Dodgers have to be thrilled with the work they did in this one. To only give up five hits the whole game was great. The bullpen has been much maligned all season long, but if they got this kind of effort earlier in the season, who knows how much better their record would be.
The Dodgers will look to grab third place alone by sending Ted Lilly to the hill on Saturday. Lilly has actually put together three straight good starts, giving up only four runs in 21 innings. Sadly, the offense has given him no help, so it's been an 0-3 stretch. He'll look for some better luck.
For reasons only known to MLB, the game isn't on TV anywhere, as FOX didn't pick it up. My guess is it was once a FOX game, but then got the boot. So, fire up those radios, kids.
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