Hanley Ramirez, A.J. Ellis,and Juan Uribe got the day off, and Yasiel Puig sat out with a minor knee strain. But that didn't keep the Dodgers from continuing to roll against Colorado with a 7-4 victory.
Ricky Nolasco followed up consecutive eight-inning shutouts with another impressive performance. He had a one-hit shutout after the fourth, but giving up a run in the fifth and sixth. His night ended with six innings, 85 pitches, five hits and one walk allowed for two runs.
The run he gave up in the fifth ended his scoreless inning streak at 20. That is the second-best stretch for a Dodger pitcher this season behind Zack Greinke's 21.
Nolasco received three runs of support early on, as the Dodgers had bases loaded and no outs in the second inning. Tim Federowicz hit a sacrifice fly to score one, Ricky Nolasco bunted the runners to second and third, and Carl Crawford followed with a two-run single for an early 3-0 lead.
Crawford went 3-5 and was apart of the action in the fith when he led off with a single. Nick Punto singled him to third, and he scored on an Adrian Gonzalez sacrifice fly for their fourth run of the game.
Paco Rodriguez had a poor appearance out of the bullpen, giving up a solo home run to Josh Rutledge to lead off the eighth, then walking Dexter Fowler. He was pulled after the two batters without getting an out. Ronald Belisario bailed him out though, keeping the score within one run.
The Dodgers were gifted with some insurance runs in the top of the ninth with a close 4-3 score. They had bases loaded and two outs as Mark Ellis hit a fly ball to the warning track, but left fielder Charlie Culberson dropped the ball, letting three runs score.
Belisario gave up two hits for a run in the ninth, so Chris Withrow had to come in to secure the 7-4 win, the Dodgers sixth in a row.
Wednesday is the series finale with Colorado, and Edinson Volquez will make his first start with Los Angeles against the Rockies' Jorge De La Rosa.
