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Colorado Rockies Ride Hale’s Start, Home Runs For 7-4 Win

By Bobby DeMuro

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Sep 25, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher M. Bolsinger (46) reacts after giving up a home run to Colorado Rockies right fielder C. Gonzalez (5) (back) in the fourth inning at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies welcomed the Los Angeles Dodgers to Denver for the final home series of the 2015 regular season at Coors Field.

4. 71. Final. 7. 108

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Corey Dickerson‘s big night at the plate, and David Hale‘s great start on the mound propelled the Colorado Rockies to a 7-4 victory on Friday night at Coors Field against the Los Angeles Dodgers. With the win, the Rockies delayed the Dodgers’ hopes of clinching a playoff berth, keeping their magic number at five, pending the completion of other games throughout the night.

Dickerson went 3-for-4 with a homer, a double, three RBIs and two runs scored, while Carlos Gonzalez‘s home run and Rafael Ynoa‘s RBI triple helped pace the Rockies to their 64th victory of the season.

Each team scored in the first inning, started off by the Dodgers’ Adrian Gonzalez driving home Jimmy Rollins with a groundout to Rockies’ first baseman Justin Morneau. The Rox immediately got the run back, though — Corey Dickerson drove in Carlos Gonzalez with a single to right field off Dodgers’ starter Mike Bolsinger.

From there, it was all Rockies for most of the game — Colorado would score three in the fourth and three more in the fifth to take a six-run lead and, at least for the time being, completely put the game out of reach.

In the third, a double from Dickerson that scored CarGo and a triple by Rafael Ynoa that scored Morneau highlighted the frame.

And then, in the fourth, the Rockies hit three solo home runs off Bolsinger; Charlie Blackmon, Gonzalez, and Dickerson all went deep in the inning — and for Dickerson, it put him a triple shy of the cycle less than halfway through the game.

Bolsinger departed after four; he allowed seven runs (but only four earned, due to suspect Dodgers’ defense) on seven hits and three walks while striking out two hitters.

His counterpart, the Rockies’ David Hale, fared much better on Friday night; Hale only allowed the first inning run on the groundout, and ended up throwing five full frames, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out four, lowering his season era to a still-unfortunate 6.01, and leaving as the Rockies’ pitcher of record in line for the win.

The Dodgers would get a run back in the sixth off Rockies’ reliever Christian Friedrich. Friedrich allowed two hits and a walk in the inning and eventually let Andre Ethier score on his wild pitch while facing Yasmani Grandal. Nevertheless, Friedrich worked out of further trouble and the Rockies took a five-run lead into the final three innings of the game.

The Dodgers unfortunately started to make a game out of it in the seventh inning, after Brooks Brown came on and allowed a hit and a walk in relief for the Rockies. Rex Brothers followed him to the mound, promptly allowed a walk to load the bases, and then gave up a two-run single to Howie Kendrick to make the game 7-4, still with only one out in the inning.

From there, Scott Oberg — the Rockies’ fourth reliever of the game and third of the seventh inning — took over, with two runners on and the tying run at the plate in what was now a disturbingly close game again. Oberg got Justin Turner to ground out for the second out of the inning, but it moved runners up to second and third for Carl Crawford. Yet on this day, Oberg won — he induced a groundout from Crawford, too, and the Rockies escaped the inning with a three-run lead.

Justin Miller and John Axford made sure that lead held, though; Miller tossed a scoreless eighth inning as a set-up man, and Axford earned the save in the ninth, his 25th of the season.

Next up, the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers face off Saturday and Sunday in the final two games of the season at Coors Field. They’ll play at 6:10 pm MT on Saturday night, and 2:10 pm MT on Sunday afternoon. From there, the Rockies head to Arizona and San Francisco to finish off the final week of their schedule.

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