• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Holliday homers and Rockies hang on to beat Dodgers

Jul 30, 2007 - 12:22 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- The Colorado Rockies used big and small swings alike in a 9-6 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday at Coors Field.

Yorvit Torrealba and Matt Holliday provided the familiar Blake Street Bomber power, and the Rockies drove in five more runs on singles.

Torrealba opened the third inning with a home run to dead center, and Holliday hit his second home run in as many games in the same inning, a two-run shot to left-center. Torrealba went 3-for-5, and Holliday, leadoff batter Willy Taveras and Jamey Carroll all finished with two hits.

Todd Helton contributed an RBI-double and a diving catch for an out along the first-base line in the ninth inning.

"They are all important from here on out," Helton said, referring to the remaining games on the schedule.

Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley was handed his first loss of the season and the Rockies climbed closer to the top of the National League West standings. Colorado (53-51) is now four games behind division leading Arizona.

"I'd call it a five-team race," Dodgers manager Grady Little said of the NL West. "It's going to be tight all the way, and there's a lot of teams involved. It could be four, it could be five."

When asked why Billingsley, who turned 23 Sunday, has been so inconsistent, Little was at a loss.

"If we knew the answer to that we'd try to cut down on the bad (starts) as quickly as possible," Little said.

Ubaldo Jimenez (1-0) earned the win for Colorado, his first in four career appearances. He allowed two runs and four hits in six innings.

The Dodgers' duo of Russell Martin and Jeff Kent, who went 3-for-4, were not fooled by Jimenez. Martin hit doubles in consecutive at-bats, and Kent followed each with a hit of his own.

In the fourth inning, Kent's single moved Martin to third, and Martin would eventually score on Nomar Garciaparra's sacrifice fly to left. Martin added a home run in the ninth inning, triggering a Dodgers rally.

Garciaparra drove in a run with a single up the middle, and the tying run, James Loney, stepped to the plate with two out and two on. Loney loaded the bases with a single to left, but Rockies reliever Manny Corpas struck out Andre Ethier on a 3-2 pitch to end the game.

In the top of the sixth inning with no outs, Kent drove in Martin with a double of his own. But the other Dodger bats couldn't capitalize. In the bottom of the sixth, Colorado extended its 4-2 lead when singles turned into three runs.

Jamey Carroll's slicing single to right field scored Taveras. Carroll stole second base - one of three stolen bases by the Rockies in the inning - and Holliday drove him in with a single up the middle. The sixth inning ended with the Rockies in control, 7-2.

Los Angeles loaded the bases with one out in the top of the seventh with Martin and Kent due up. The Rockies brought in righthander Ramone Ramirez, who struck out Martin on a 3-2 pitch but surrendered a two-RBI single to Kent.

The Rockies responded with small-ball again as Kazuo Matsui and Taveras drove in a run each with singles through the infield in the seventh.

"We've been able to put our foot down at home," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "We've won some series' and that's eight in a row (at home) now."