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Dodgers, Rockies close short series at Coors

Apr 6, 2011 - 3:03 PM (Sports Network) - An extra day off helped Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki find his power stroke. He and the rest of Colorado's offense will need to be sharp again this afternoon as they go for a sweep of their two-game series against Chad Billingsley and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field.

The Rockies split their first two games with the Diamondbacks to kick off the season, but Sunday's finale was postponed due to a mix of rain and snow in the Denver area. That gave Colorado an extra day to prepare for the Dodgers and their ace, Clayton Kershaw, and it paid off with a 3-0 victory on Tuesday.

Tulowitzki ended a season-opening 0-for-8 drought with a fourth inning homer and catcher Chris Iannetta also hit his first homer of the season in the following inning. Colorado tacked on another run in the sixth on Jose Lopez's run-scoring single, giving Jhoulys Chacin more than enough support after the 23-year-old threw seven scoreless innings of five-hit ball.

"You throw Chacin out there and he looks that good against Kershaw," Tulowitzki said. "It's impressive."

Huston Street struck out one in the ninth to record his second save of the season.

Kershaw, meanwhile, fell to 1-1 on the season after giving up three runs over six innings while striking out eight for the Dodgers, who took three of four from the Giants at home in their season-opening series. However, both of their losses this season have come by way of a shutout.

Despite the lack of offense on Tuesday, Kershaw felt he could have done better.

"We didn't get up any runs after the seventh," Kershaw said. "If I did my job, we'd still be playing right now."

Los Angeles' offense could get a small lift today with the return of third baseman Casey Blake, who has been out since late March due to a strained lower back. Blake hit .248 with 17 homers and 64 RBI in 146 games a year ago.

Billingsley will take the help as he goes for his second win in as many starts this season. The 26-year-old got the victory over the Giants on Friday, allowing five hits in six innings. One of those was a three-run homer by Giants rookie Brandon Belt, but it was the lone mistake of the day for the right-hander.

"Everything went very well, except for one pitch I made a mistake on, a 2-0 pitch and he hit it out," Billingsley said.

Billingsley faced the rival Rockies just once a season ago, taking a loss after yielding three runs over six innings, and is 2-4 with a 4.88 earned run average in 11 career outings against them, all but two of those starts.

For the Rockies, 28-year-old Jason Hammel makes his first start of the season. Hammel is coming off consecutive 10-win seasons, though his ERA jumped from 4.33 in 2009 to 4.81 in 30 starts last year.

The right-hander went 1-0 with a 4.70 ERA in three starts versus the Dodgers a season ago.

The Dodgers were 11-7 against the Rockies last season, winning each of the final four meetings.