Entering the fifth inning on Friday night’s NL West showdown in Los Angeles, the Colorado Rockies had mustered just one hit of the Dodgers’ Yu Darvish – a solo home run by Carlos Gonzalez in the first inning. They would record just one hit – a Nolan Arenado single – from the sixth inning on. But four doubles and a walk in the fifth was enough for Colorado to earn a 5-4 victory over the struggling Dodgers, now losers of eight straight games.
With the win, Colorado maintained their Wild Card lead over Milwaukee and St. Louis, leading each by three games for the final spot. They gained one game on Arizona, who lost to San Diego to snap a 13-game winning streak. Arizona’s lead for the top Wild Card spot is now six games.
Los Angeles jumped out to an early lead on Rockies starter German Marquez. A leadoff single in the bottom of the first inning by Curtis Granderson turned into a one-run lead on a Justin Turner home run two batters later. A rare error by second baseman DJ LeMahieu would hurt Colorado, as would a walk to Cody Bellinger; both came around to score on an Austin Barnes single.
Marquez would settle down from there, however, posting three scoreless innings to keep Colorado in the game against Darvish (2-3, 5.34 ERA), who took the loss after surrendering the lead in the fifth.
Alexi Amarista got the rally going with a one-out double. Jonathan Lucroy followed with a walk and both advanced on a wild pitch by Darvish. Then, Colorado did something it had never done in team history. Raimel Tapia, pinch hitting for Marquez, started a string of back-to-back-to-back RBI doubles. Tapia, Charlie Blackmon and LeMahieu traded places in consecutive at-bats to take the lead and chase Darvish.
From there it was a battle of the bullpens. Each side conceded just one hit through the remainder of the game.
Antonio Senzatela walked a batter in the fifth, but escaped unscathed. Chris Rusin (5-0, 2.33) allowed a leadoff single in the sixth and a walk in the seventh, but nothing more. Pat Neshek walked Chase Utley to lead off the eighth, but worked around it. Greg Holland worked a tough ninth, retiring Turner, Bellinger and Yasiel Puig to earn his 38th save of the year.
The two sides continue their four-game series on Saturday. Chad Bettis Bettis (0-2, 4.91) will have his hands full against Alex Wood (14-2, 2.57). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. MDT