LOS ANGELES — Ubaldo Jimenez’s postseason dress rehearsal contained one lousy scene, but overall it was a smashing success.
Jimenez, scheduled to be on the mound for the Rockies’ opening playoff game on Wednesday, pitched six innings, allowing one run on two hits. He struck out 10, tying a season high and one short of his career high.
Jimenez finished the regular season 15-12 with a 3.47 ERA, the lowest ERA for a starter in franchise history.
“I feel really good right now, very strong,” said Jimenez, who threw 115 pitches. “I think I’m ready for (postseason).”
It wasn’t all perfect. In a commonplace scene for a Jimenez-pitched game, one ugly inning threatened to derail him. Friday night it is was the third.
Jimenez’s fastball command deserted him and he walked three batters. But he struck out Manny Ramirez with a nasty curve, and then whiffed Matt Kemp with a 98 mph fastball to escape the inning with just a single run allowed.
Jimenez struck out the struggling Ramirez three times.
“He’s still a very good hitter, but tonight I was able to get him out,” Jimenez said. “I had to use fastballs, because that’s my best pitch against him.”
Ramirez, who struck out four times in all and drew the ire of Dodgers fans, tipped his cap to Jimenez.
“Jimenez threw a lot of good pitches,” Ramirez said. “We missed a lot of opportunities to bring guys in.”
Before Friday night’s game, Rockies manager Jim Tracy reiterated that Jimenez will start for the Rockies on Wednesday in the first game of the divisional playoffs, regardless of which team the Rockies face.
Aaron Cook, Jorge De La Rosa and Jason Marquis are expected to form the rest of the playoff rotation, but the pitching order has yet to be determined.
“We will probably sit down tomorrow and map that out,” Tracy said after the Rockies’ victory.
If the Rockies open the NLDS in Philadelphia, De La Rosa would likely be held back to pitch Game 3 or Game 4 at Coors Field. De La Rosa went 10-6 at Coors this season, but Citizen’s Bank Park has been a house of horrors for the left-hander. In a start there earlier this season, the Phillies battered him for seven runs on 10 hits in five innings.
De La Rosa pitches tonight against the Dodgers with Marquis lined up for Sunday afternoon’s regular-season finale.
Cook cemented his place in the postseason rotation with his eight-inning, four-hit gem against the Brewers on Thursday at Coors Field as the Rockies clinched a playoff berth.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
