Denver, CO - Matt Holliday hit a two-run home run and finished with three RBI as the Colorado Rockies defeated Los Angeles, 9-6, and handed Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley his first loss of the season.
Yorvit Torrealba went 3-for-5 with a home run and two runs scored, while Jamey Carroll knocked in a pair of runs for the Rockies, who took two of three from LA in a rain-shortened series.
Billingsley (7-1) was tagged for four runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Ubaldo Jimenez (1-0), meanwhile, pitched six strong innings to pick up his first career win. The right-hander gave up two runs on four hits with three strikeouts and three walks.
Jeff Kent went 4-for-5 with three RBI and Russell Martin homered and scored three runs for the Dodgers, who have lost four of five.
Trailing 9-4 with two outs in the ninth, LA rallied to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. Martin launched a solo blast off Taylor Buchholz and Kent and Luis Gonzalez hit back-to-back singles. Manny Corpas took over for Buchholz and Nomar Garciaparra’s single chased home pinch-runner Ramon Martinez.
James Loney followed with the Dodgers’ fourth-straight single to load the bases, but Corpas struck out Andre Ethier for his sixth save of the season.
Colorado went up 3-0 in third as Torrealba led off the inning with a homer and Holliday followed a two-out single by Carroll with his 20th blast of the season.
LA got on the board in the fourth as Garciaparra’s sacrifice fly scored Martin, who led off with a double and went to third on Kent’s single.
Todd Helton answered with an RBI double in the fifth before back-to-back doubles by Martin and Kent to start the sixth made it 4-2.
Then, with two outs and nobody on in the home half of the sixth, Jeff Baker worked a pinch-hit walk and Willy Taveras’ single put runners on the corners. Taveras stole second and Carroll’s single sent to center sent both runners home. Carroll then swiped second himself and scored on Holliday’s single to right for a 7-2 Rockies advantage.
Kent’s bases-loaded single in the seventh brought LA within 7-4, but Colorado answered in the bottom of the inning on back-to-back RBI singles by Kaz Matsui and Taveras.
Game Notes
Rockies reliever Jeremy Affeldt pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief…LA and Colorado have split eight games this season…It was Jimenez’s third start of the season…Attendance was 38,167.
