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Martin's sacrifice fly helps Dodgers edge Rockies

Apr 11, 2007 - 6:37 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The Los Angeles Dodgers nearly blew an excellent effort by Brett Tomko, but Russell Martin saved the day.

Martin broke a tie game in the eighth inning with a sacrifice fly off reliever Byung-Hyun Kim and Tomko pitched six strong innings as the Dodgers posted a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies.

Martin and Juan Pierre each had two hits as did Nomar Garciaparra, who also drove in one for Los Angeles, which has split the first two games of this three-game series.

"Nomar did a good job putting us on the board early and giving Tomko an early lead," Dodgers manager Grady Little said.

Joe Beimel (1-0) relieved Chad Billingsley in the top of the eighth inning and got the final two outs to earn his first win. Takashi Saito struck out two of the three batters he faced in the ninth to record his fourth save.

With the score tied at 1-1 and runners on second and third in the bottom of the eighth, Martin hit a sacrifice fly on a 1-2 count to left field that plated Wilson Betemit to give the Dodgers the lead. Kim allowed a hit and a walk to drop to 1-1 this season.

"I went up to the plate being patient and to wait for something I can put in the air," Martin said. "I got down early in the count so I just shortened up my swing to make contact and I got a pitch that I could handle and put in the air for the run."

Tomko, who was making his first start since June 24, 2006, yielded just a leadoff double in the fifth inning by Matt Holliday before being replaced by Billingsley to start the seventh. He allowed three walks and struck out nine.

"I just wanted to go out and make pitches and stay in control," Tomko said. "I had all four of my pitches going for me tonight and I kept guys off balance by using both sides of the plate and change speeds."

Garciaparra staked the Dodgers to a 1-0 in the first inning after his RBI single drove in Martin. It was the only run Rockies starter Rodrigo Lopez surrendered in six innings.

Lopez allowed five hits and two walks and struck out two.

"I felt like I threw a good game, but it was one of those games where one run was the difference," Lopez said. "They have a very good lineup so I just did what I could do to keep them off the bases."

Yorvit Torrealba had one of Colorado's four hits, including the run-scoring single in the seventh inning that knotted the game at 1-1.