Harang Tosses 6 Strong To Lead Dodgers Past Rockies
DENVER (AP) -- Aaron Harang pitched six strong innings, Bobby Abreu homered for the first time this year and the Los Angeles Dodgers ended a season-worst five-game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday.
Andre Ethier and Elian Herrera had two hits and two RBIs each and James Loney also had two hits for the Dodgers.
Michael Cuddyer and Wilin Rosario had RBI doubles and DJ LeMahieu had two hits for the Rockies, who had their five-game win streak snapped.
A day after the Rockies roughed up Los Angeles pitchers for 13 runs on 15 hits, Harang (4-3) held Colorado's suddenly potent offense to one run on four hits.
He worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth when he got hot-hitting Carlos Gonzalez to foul out to third and Cuddyer to ground out to second.
Colorado had 53 runs, 71 hits and 13 home runs during its winning streak but had only six hits Saturday. Gonzalez came into the game with six homers and a .577 average over his last six games and went 1 for 4.
The Dodgers took a 3-1 lead with two outs in the second on a two-run single by Herrera. The hit went through the legs of pitcher Juan Nicasio and sent him to the showers with a strained left knee.
Although the ball didn't appear to hit Nicasio, assistant trainer Scott Gehret and manager Jim Tracy went to the mound. After a brief discussion Nicasio left the game in favor of Josh Roenicke.
Nicasio (2-3) has sustained far worse injuries on comebackers. He was hurt last Aug. 5 when a line drive by Washington's Ian Desmond hit him in the head. He underwent surgery to have two pins inserted into his cracked C-1 vertebra and also had a small metal plate attached to the back of his neck.
This time Nicasio was able to walk off the field after allowing three runs, two earned, and four hits in 1 2-3 innings.
Los Angeles made it 4-1 when Ethier drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth.
Abreu's solo homer and Adam Kennedy's RBI single in the sixth gave the Dodgers a 6-1 lead.
LeMahieu led off the seventh with a single and scored on Rosario's double to make it 6-2. Colorado had a chance for more but Gonzalez grounded sharply into a 3-6-3 double play to end the inning.
The Dodgers struck first when Tony Gwynn Jr., who reached on an error to lead off the game, scored on Ethier's single to right.
Dexter Fowler tripled to start the bottom of the first and scored on Cuddyer's two-out double off the center-field wall to tie it 1-all.
NOTES: The Rockies recalled LHP Rex Brothers from Triple-A and optioned RHP Carlos Torres. ... Home plate umpire Chad Fairchild was shaken up when he was hit in the left arm by a foul ball by Gonzalez in the bottom of the first. He was tended to Gehret and had his left forearm wrapped after the inning ended. ... Rockies 3B Jordan Pacheco was held out of the lineup with a sore left quadriceps muscle. ... Dodgers OF Juan Rivera (strained left hamstring) will join the team when it travels to Philadelphia for a four-game series starting Monday.
