Dodgers' Magill Roughed Up, LA Loses To Rockies 7-2
DENVER (CBSLA.com/AP) — The Colorado Rockies treated the "Big Cat" to quite a power show.
With Andres Galarraga in attendance to throw out the first pitch, the Rockies reverted back to his days as ring leader of the "Blake Street Bombers," hitting four homers.
Dexter Fowler led the way with two homers off fill-in starter Matt Magill and Jorge De La Rosa pitched seven effective innings, helping the Rockies to a 7-2 win over the slumping Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.
"Think we had some guys trying to impress the `Big Cat,"' manager Walt Weiss said.
It worked. He even wanted in on the act. Before the game, Galarraga volunteered to pinch hit if necessarily.
The Rockies wouldn't need him or his prodigious power on this afternoon. Galarraga was free to soak up the scene in his first visit back to Colorado in nearly six years as the team honored him with his own bobblehead Sunday.
"It's good to see him again," Todd Helton said. "He looked great. Enjoyed having him here."
Fowler did his best Galarraga impression as the speedy outfielder turned in his second multihomer game of the season. Helton and Michael Cuddyer added solo homers as the Rockies took two of three from Los Angeles.
De La Rosa (7-3) struggled early, but settled down as he allowed six hits and struck out five for his first career win against Los Angeles. He was 0-8 entering the game.
The lefty insisted he didn't do anything special Sunday. Well, he threw his blazing fastball more, but that's about it.
"Last time, I think they were waiting for my changeup," he said. "Tried to use more of my fastball. That worked."
Magill (0-1) was recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque to step in for lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu, who was a late scratch with a bruised left foot. Magill had a forgettable outing, giving up seven runs -- six earned -- in six innings. He also allowed four homers and walked nine, before being pulled for a pinch hitter after throwing 110 pitches.
"I just couldn't find the zone," Magill said. "It was just one of those days. I didn't have legs on anything, and I just couldn't find it."
Cuddyer kept up his torrid hitting since coming off the disabled list on May 24, driving in a run with a sacrifice fly in the first and lining his 10th homer of the season in the fifth to the deepest part of Coors Field. He has his average up to .346.
Skip Schumaker drove in both runs for the Dodgers, who return home after a 1-4 stretch on the road. They beat Colorado on Friday, only to drop the next two. They haven't won a series at Coors since Sept. 27-29, 2010.
Helton rediscovered his power against Los Angeles, hitting a solo shot in the fourth on Sunday and a pinch-hit homer in the ninth on Friday. He had just three homers before the weekend.
"Better," Helton said of his swing. "But it's always a work in progress. Just stay with the process."
Fowler led off the game with a homer, the sixth time in his career he's accomplished that feat. It was also his first homer since April 29, when he hit a solo shot off the Dodgers to begin the game.
He wasn't done there, though, lining a two-run homer in the sixth. He also was walked twice, including one intentionally.
Fowler was picking up where he left off the day before, when his single in the 10th brought home the winning run.
"See ball, hit ball. When I think too much, that's when I get in trouble," Fowler said.
For the moment, the Dodgers are taking a wait-and-see approach with outfielder Carl Crawford, who left the game Saturday with a left hamstring injury. The team wants to see how he progresses before a move is made.
However, that left the already injury-riddled Dodgers even more short-handed on the bench. Before the game, L.A. placed catcher A.J. Ellis (left oblique strain) on the 15-day disabled list to make room for Magill. This after already putting outfielder Matt Kemp on the disabled list last week with a strained right hamstring.
After the game, the Dodgers optioned Magill and will recall outfielder Yasiel Puig from Double-A Chattanooga on Monday. The 22-year-old Puig was hitting .313 with eight homers and 37 RBIs for the Lookouts.
"He's got power. He's got speed. He's got an arm," manager Don Mattingly said of Puig. "It's a tooled-up package, but then on the back side of that, you still say it's a young player. You don't want to build him up to the point where it's impossible to live up to expectations. So you'd like him to just be able to be a young player and be like every young player who comes up."
Puig signed on as a free agent in 2012 after fleeing Cuba.
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