DENVER -- Rookie Brad Hawpe spoiled another clutch
hitting display by Jeff Kent.
Hawpe delivered a game-winning single in the bottom of the 10th
inning after Kent drilled his 13th career grand slam in the
seventh as the Colorado Rockies completed a three-game sweep
with a 7-6 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Kent greeted Rockies reliever David Cortes with his second grand
slam of the season to tie the game at 6-6 and improve to
8-for-13 with 22 RBIs with the bases loaded in 2005. However, the
blast did not provide enough of a lift to prevent the Dodgers
from their fifth straight loss to the Rockies.
"We played a team that scored a lot of runs and we couldn't keep
pace," said Kent, whose club was outscored, 24-4, in the first
two games of the series.
Cory Sullivan led off the decisive frame with a double to
right-center field against Duaner Sanchez (4-5). Todd Helton
was walked intentionally and Matt Holliday struck out before
Hawpe, who was hitless in four at-bats, singled to deep
right-center to easily scoring Sullivan.
"That (fastball) was his best pitch," Hawpe said. "I was just
looking for something over the plate. He was throwing me a lot
of changeups and sliders in that at-bat, and I knew he was going
to have to give me a fastball at some point. Fortunately it
was a strike and I ended up putting the barrel on the ball."
Activated from the disabled list Friday, Hawpe doubled, homered
and drove in four runs in Saturday's 11-1 win.
Scott Dohmann (2-1) escaped a two-out, two-on jam in the top of
the 10th for the win.
Sullivan had a career-high four hits, including a two-run triple
in the third inning, and Holliday belted a two-run shot in the
sixth that opened a 6-2 lead. Sullivan also made an
over-the-shoulder catch of a Ricky Ledee drive in the eighth
inning that preserved the tie.
"He (Sullivan) had about as big of a day as you can have at the
plate on both sides of the ball," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle
said. "He made a number of catches in the outfield and obviously
the last one was huge.
"Every time you looked up he was in a gap catching a ball and
running into a wall, and he was on the bases scoring runs. He
was doing things he's capable of doing when he plays within his
skills and they showed up big time today."
The slam by Kent, who added two singles and improved his
National League-leading average with runners in scoring position
to .379 (44-for-116), prevented Zach Day from winning his first
start for the Rockies.
The righthander yielded two runs and seven hits with two walks
in five innings, striking out three.
"I didn't have my best sinker, but I was able to go for the most
part around the zone and try and battle and get outs," Day
said.
"They were disappointed they let the lead slip away," Hurdle
said. "It wasn't that we didn't hold it, it was that we let a
lead slip away and that's one of the biggest improvements I've
seen in this club is that these guys are very willing to pick
one another up. They understand the importance of everybody
contributing."
Day outpitched 21-year-old Edwin Jackson, who was tagged for six
runs and seven hits in five innings.
Considered one of the top pitching prospects in the minors,
Jackson was making his third major league start this season. He
went 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA in four games as a in 2003, becoming
the youngest Los Angeles Dodger to win his first start.
"The walks were the biggest thing," Dodgers manager Jim Tracy
said. "Bases on ball in this park absolutely kill you. He was
real good early and then his command wavered some in the fourth
and fifth innings. That's the next hurdle he needs to overcome,
to maintain a consistent delivery throughout the course of a
start."