Closer Greg Holland proved his not infallible, but still earned his eighth save of the season, and Nolan Arenado homered twice to give the Colorado Rockies a 4-3 victory over the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. Chris Rusin pitched 1.1 inning of scoreless relief to earn his second win of the season.
Arenado was a one-man wrecking crew against Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu, who fell to 0-3 on the year with the loss. The reigning back-to-back NL home run king hit his fifth and sixth home runs of the year, plus a double, off Ryu to power the Colorado offense. Arenado is now alone in second place in the National League with six home runs. Shortstop Trevor Story also went deep off Ryu, clubbing a 423-foot solo shot to left field in the top of the fourth inning.
Rockies manager Bud Black had to lean heavily on his bullpen in this one after starter Kyle Freeland put himself in some trouble in the fifth inning. Freeland put a pair of runners on with no outs, ending and up-and-down night for the rookie. Scott Oberg retired the only two hitters he faced and Rusin forced Adrian Gonzalez to ground out to strand a pair of runners. Rusin then pitched a perfect sixth to put himself in line for the win. Adam Ottavino and Mike Dunn each kept the Dodgers off the board to set up Holland’s eighth save opportunity. Holland allowed two runs on two hits and a walk before getting Gonzalez to ground out to end the game.
Colorado (10-5) sits in first place atop the NL West heading into Wednesday night’s game in Los Angeles. The Rockies have an off day on Thursday before opening a seven-game home stand against San Francisco and Washington.
