The surging Los Angeles Dodgers vie for their fifth straight victory Thursday, when they host the National League West-rival Colorado Rockies in the opener of a four-game series. Los Angeles improved to 15-3 over its last 18 games and pulled within 1 1/2 games of first-place Arizona in the division after completing a three-game sweep of the Diamondbacks on Wednesday. Hanley Ramirez and A.J. Ellis began the 14th inning with back-to-back homers and six relievers combined to allow two hits over nine scoreless frames as the Dodgers rallied for a 7-5 victory.
Colorado is coming off a 5-4 triumph at San Diego on Wednesday in the rubber match of its three-game series with the struggling Padres. Prior to the set, the Rockies had lost six of its previous seven contests and nine of 12. Colorado is looking to avenge a home series loss to Los Angeles that saw the clubs combine for 40 runs over the three games.
TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, ROOT Sports (Colorado), Prime Ticket (Los Angeles)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rockies LH Drew Pomeranz (0-2, 9.72 ERA) vs. Dodgers LH Chris Capuano (2-6, 5.19)
Pomeranz will be making his third start of the season after going 2-9 in 22 outings last year. The 24-year-old allowed four runs in 4 1/3 innings against San Francisco in his season debut on June 30 and yielded five runs over four frames at Arizona on Saturday. Pomeranz, who went 8-1 for Triple-A Colorado Springs before being recalled, is 0-1 in three career outings against Los Angeles.
Capuano is looking to rebound from a pair of horrid starts - both losses - in which he surrendered a total of 13 runs over eight innings. The 34-year-old, who tossed 11 scoreless frames over his previous two starts, was tagged for six runs on seven hits over 4 1/3 innings in a loss at Colorado on July 4. Capuano is 5-9 with a 4.24 ERA in 16 career games (15 starts) vs. the Rockies.
WALK-OFFS
1. Colorado LF Carlos Gonzalez returned to the lineup Wednesday after missing two games with an injured middle finger on his right hand.
2. The Rockies expect OF Dexter Fowler (wrist) to be activated from the disabled list and play in Thursday's series opener. They also hope to have SS Troy Tulowitzki (rib) to return during the four-game set.
3. Los Angeles 2B Skip Schumaker will serve the final game of his two-game suspension Thursday. Schumaker received the ban for his role in the benches-clearing brawl with Arizona on June 11.
PREDICTION: Dodgers 5, Rockies 2