Los Angeles – In a game with all the subtlety of a demolition derby, the Dodgers smashed the Rockies 6-1 on Monday night.
The Rockies, fresh off their three-game sweep of Toronto, collided with a team that proved it was even hotter.
Behind a solid start from Jae Seo – seven innings, six hits, one unearned run – the Dodgers won their fifth straight game and 13th of their past 16. They are tied with the Rockies for second in the National League West, both with 25-20 records. Arizona, by virtue of its 4-3 win over Pittsburgh, took over first place.
“You are not going to win games with the sequence of events that took place tonight,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. “We had a couple of shots at Seo early and were unable to take advantage of them. After that, he settled in and he challenged our discipline at the plate and threw a lot of strikes with his offspeed stuff.”
For the Rockies, Monday’s game was like a wreck on an L.A. freeway.
Cory Sullivan and Luis Gonzalez had early collisions at home plate and both came away losers.
Rockies starter Byung-Hyun Kim was knocked flat by J.D. Drew’s scorching line drive through the box to open the sixth, then promptly gave up a run-scoring double to Jeff Kent, giving Los Angeles a 3-1 lead. Kim took the loss, falling to 2-2.
Reliever Scott Dohmann entered the game in the seventh, went wild in a hurry and loaded the bases on three straight walks. Tom Martin came in and finagled a bases-loaded double play. But then he, too, lost control and walked in a run to put the Dodgers ahead 4-1, putting the game out of reach.
The Rockies’ other casualty was second baseman Jamey Carroll. He went down with a sprained ankle running to second in the first inning and is listed as day to day.
Runs are always a precious commodity at Dodger Stadium. That’s why the Rockies’ two wasted opportunities early in the game loomed so large.
Both chances were wiped out by strong, accurate Dodgers arms. In the second, Sullivan tried to score from first on Danny Ardoin’s double, but left fielder Andre Ethier got to the ball quickly and relayed it to shortstop Rafael Furcal, who gunned down Sullivan at the plate. Catcher Russell Martin did a nice job blocking home, although the Rockies argued that Sullivan got his hand on the plate and should have been called safe.
“Yeah, I thought I was safe. I thought I got my hand in,” Sullivan said. “That’s why you use that slide, that hook slide.”
In the third, Gonzalez led off with a double, then got a green light from third-base coach Mike Gallego and attempted to score on Garrett Atkins’ single to right. But Drew threw a perfect strike to Martin, nailing Gonzalez.
First baseman Todd Helton’s throwing error cracked opened the door for Los Angeles’ two unearned runs in the third. Furcal grounded to Helton, but Helton’s toss to Kim, covering the bag, was off the mark. The Dodgers took advantage with a double by Jose Cruz, a run-scoring bloop single by Olmedo Saenz and a run-scoring infield grounder by Drew.
Colorado’s lone run came in the first when Matt Holliday hit a sacrifice fly, driving in Carroll, who hobbled home on his bad ankle.
Staff writer Patrick Saunders can be reached at 303-820-5459 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
