Dodgers 9, Rockies 8
DENVER -- Alex Guerrero hit a grand slam with two outs in the ninth to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 9-8 win over the Colorado Rockies and a split of their day-night doubleheader Tuesday.
The grand slam was the first for Guerrero in his major league career. It came against Rafael Betancourt (2-2), who gave up three straight singles and loaded the bases with no outs. Betancourt came within one strike of ending the game before Guerrero blasted his 10th homer of the season to straightaway center on a 1-2 fastball.
It was the third career grand slam Betancourt has surrendered. The others were on June 7, 2008, at Detroit while pitching for Cleveland and on Aug. 30, 2009, at San Francisco while pitching for the Rockies.
Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen came on in the ninth and gave up a one-out double to right fielder Carlos Gonzalez. He moved to third on third baseman Nolan Arenado's hard grounder to shortstop but was stranded there when Jansen struck out first baseman Ben Paulsen to earn his fifth save. The winning pitcher was Josh Ravin (1-0), who struck out the one batter he faced in his first major league appearance.
The Dodgers blew an early four-run lead and fell behind 7-5 in the seventh when shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who came to the plate with just four homers in 176 plate appearances, hit a two-run shot over the center-field fence off Yimi Garcia.
The Rockies added a run in the eighth when catcher Nick Hundley, who went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs, hit his second double of the game and scored when left fielder Brandon Barnes followed with a single.
The Rockies spotted the Dodgers and Zack Greinke four early runs, hardly advisable since Greinke brought a 5-1 record and a 1.48 ERA into the game. But he gave up 10 hits and five runs, both season highs, in six innings and was in line to lose before the Dodgers tied the game at 5 with a run off Brooks Brown in the seventh.
Brown paid dearly for a leadoff walk to Jimmy Rollins, who scored on center fielder Joc Pederson's two-out triple into the gap in right-center.
Thanks to the lower portion of their batting order, the Rockies scored twice with two out in the sixth to go ahead 5-4 and wipe out the Dodgers' early four-run lead. First baseman Ben Paulsen, the No. 6 hitter, began the rally with a single and scored when catcher Nick Hundley doubled off the wall in right-center.
Paulsen beat the relay throw home, and Hundley took third on the play. He scored the go-ahead run when left fielder Brandon Barnes singled.
David Hale gave up four runs in three innings on three homers. But he settled down and worked six innings.
The Rockies won the first game 6-3 as Jorge De La Rosa (2-2) pitched six innings for just the second time in seven starts this season, and Mike McKenry homered, doubled and drove in three runs. It was the first multiple-RBI game this season for the Rockies' backup catcher. The losing pitcher in his Dodgers debut was Ian Thomas (0-1), who was added to the Los Angeles roster as the 26th player and was acquired from Atlanta in a six-player trade last week.
The Dodgers used three early home runs to build a 4-0 lead before the Rockies erased most of that advantage when they struck for two runs in the third and added another in the fourth.
David Hale reprised his role from May 23 when he was added to the Rockies' roster as the 26th man, pitched 6 2/3 innings and beat the Giants 5-3. He did not allow any home runs against San Francisco, which wasn't the case Tuesday.
Second baseman Enrique Hernandez, the second batter of the game, hit his second homer of the season.
The Dodgers hit two more homers in the third, good for three runs to make it 4-0. Pederson hit his 16th homer and third in three games at Coors Field. Hernandez followed with a single, and first baseman Adrian Gonzalez belted his 11th homer, a two-run shot to right-center.
The Rockies' first scoring chance against Greinke came in the third when he allowed back-to-back singles to open the inning, and Hale sacrificed the runners into scoring position. Pederson ran onto the warning track to catch center fielder Charlie Blackmon's long sacrifice fly, and second baseman DJ LeMahieu followed with a first-pitch single to trim the Dodgers' lead to 4-2.
Colorado loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth, but Greinke gave up just one run when Hundley grounded into a fielder's choice and just avoided hitting into a double play. Greinke struck out left fielder Barnes and got Hale to hit into a force play to minimize the damage.
NOTES: Rockies 1B Ben Paulsen homered for the third time in five games in the first game of the doubleheader and has hit safely for the 11th game in 15 games since being called up May 19 from Triple-A Albuquerque. ...Rockies C Michael McKenry was 0-for-9 against the Dodgers this year before going 2-for-4 with a double, homer and three RBIs in the first game. ... Dodgers 1B Adrian Gonzalez drew a bases-loaded walk in the first game. It was the third bases-loaded walk of his career and first since 2011 when he was with the Red Sox. ... Dodgers CF Joc Pederson homered in both games, extending his on-base streak to 15 games.