DENVER – The Rockies rallied for three runs off the Dodgers bullpen in the seventh and eighth innings and Colorado came from behind to beat L.A. 7-5 on Friday night at Coors Field.
Brandon Barnes hit a two-out, two-run triple off Dodgers' set up man Chris Hatcher in the eighth inning to break up a 5-5 tie and put Colorado in front for good.
Adrian Gonzalez delivered again for the Dodgers going 2-for-4 with a home run and two-run single in the fifth inning. Gonzalez has 19 career homers at Coors Field, second in Dodgers franchise history, and is batting a career .310 in Colorado.
"I thought we had the kid on the ropes early," Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts told reporters. "But after three runs in the first, I was hoping to get more than five."
The back and forth battle saw the Dodgers lace three straight singles with two outs in the top of the fifth. Corey Seager, Justin Turner and Gonzalez hit three consecutive base knocks off Colorado starter Jon Gray to take a 5-4 lead.
Gray had 10 strikeouts in his season debut, finishing with a no-decision after allowing five runs on seven hits in five innings.
Seager had himself a day as he followed Chase Utley's leadoff triple with a deep dinger to dead center to give the Dodgers an early 2-0 lead.
Scott Kazmir continued to struggle for the boys in blue. The left-hander allowed four runs or more for the third consecutive start, serving up home runs to Nolan Arenado and Ryan Raburn in the fourth inning.
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Kazmir made it out of the fifth inning with the lead, but finished the day allowing four runs on six hits with three strikeouts in five innings, ballooning his ERA to 6.63 on the season.
The Dodgers have lost five consecutive games at Coors Field dating back to last season.
Players of the Game:
Corey Seager: 2-for-3 with a two-run homer in the first inning.
Adrian Gonzalez: 2-for-4 with a two-run single, homer and three RBI.
Nolan Arenado: 2-for-3 home run.
Three Takeaways:
1. Puig Makes Putout Play of the Year: Yasiel Puig made one of the all-time putout plays in baseball history when he threw a rocket from the right field warning track to gun down Trevor Story at third base.
[VIDEO] Yasiel Puig throws out Trevor Story at third from just in front of the right field warning track on the fly: https://t.co/kqq6V1xd20 — Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 23, 2016
2. Scoring Early: The Dodgers lead the Majors in first inning runs with 16 on the season.
#Dodgers have now scored 16 1st inning runs on the season and only allowed 6. — Rox Pile (@RoxPileFS) April 23, 2016
3. Purple Rain: The Los Angeles Dodgers announced before the game that next Friday's "Fireworks Night" at Dodger Stadium will feature a musical tribute to Prince. Earlier in the day, we found this gem from the 1987 of Vin Scully talking about Prince.
Vin Scully, Prince and an out of town scoreboard in 1987. Always the best. pic.twitter.com/6KDhSnNW5E — Davril Lavignezo (@davelozo) April 22, 2016
Up Next:
Dodgers (10-7): Kenta Maeda makes his first start in the mile-high air as he takes the mound looking to improve to 3-0 on the season.
Rockies (9-7): Colorado sends Tyler Chatwood to the hill in game two of the series which kicks off at 5:10PM PST.
