Paybacks Abound, but Rockies Get the Last Word, 7-6 : Baseball: Dodgers’ ninth-inning rally includes three-run homer by Snyder off Shepherd. Strawberry mulls taking time off after playing poorly in another game.

Scores were settled Wednesday night between the Dodgers and the Colorado Rockies, this time with bats instead of fists. But Darryl Strawberry, playing another frustrating game, is still trying to settle a score with himself.

Down, 7-2, the Dodgers put together a four-run ninth inning, highlighted by a three-run home run by Cory Snyder over the center-field fence against Keith Shepherd, who on Tuesday had hit Snyder with a pitch and gestured toward Snyder to come out and fight. That set off the second of two brawls Tuesday, although Snyder did not rush the mound.

Snyder got even Wednesday. It wasn’t enough for the Dodgers, who lost, 7-6, but the homer was met with glee by Snyder’s teammates, who high-fived him as he entered the dugout.

“The first thing my 3-year-old daughter said to me when I woke up was, ‘Daddy, please don’t get in a fight tonight. I don’t want you to get hurt,’ ” Snyder said.

“I wasn’t worried about revenge. I just wanted to keep the rally going.”

Said Orel Hershiser: “That’s the guy (Shepherd) that threw behind Cory’s back. And Cory got him where it hurts, in his ERA.”

If tempers hadn’t cooled after Tuesday night’s brawl-a-thon, nature seemed to help, sending thundershowers that soaked the field after the fifth inning and caused a delay of 67 minutes.

The temperatures at Mile High Stadium during the previous two games had ranged from 71 to 89 degrees, but it cooled off considerably Wednesday. So did Charlie Hayes, who settled his own score against the Dodgers by going three for four with a home run.

Hayes, who had set off the first brawl Tuesday when he charged the mound, had vowed to get even with Ramon Martinez for throwing at him. He was quoted as saying: “His day will come. All I know is, if he throws one close to me again, I’ll charge him again.”

But Hayes channeled his aggression in a more positive way Wednesday. He homered in his first at-bat in the second inning, hitting Kevin Gross’ first pitch to him 435 feet into the left-center seats.

Then Hayes singled and scored in the Rockies’ two-run fourth inning, giving them a 3-1 lead.

Gross also gave up a home run to Daryl Boston in the fifth inning and left the game trailing, 5-2, as the rain came.

When play resumed, right-hander Rod Nichols, who was called up from Albuquerque on Wednesday to replace Todd Worrell on the roster, relieved Gross.

“We thought it was a good idea that I come out of the game,” Gross said. “I felt pretty good, actually, but my arm had stiffened up after my last outing and I think it was a good decision. It was just one of those nights. I made a lot of bad pitches.”

It was the Rockies’ first victory in six games against the Dodgers, and it snapped the Dodgers’ four-game winning streak. The Dodgers (34-29) fell to third place in the NL West, seven games behind the San Francisco Giants.

The 27 runs the Dodgers scored against the Rockies was the most for them in a three-game series since May 22-24, 1988, against Pittsburgh, when they scored 28.

The Dodgers travel to Cincinnati today for a three-game series that begins Friday, before returning to Los Angeles to meet the Houston Astros in a four-game series.

It was also the first game since May 25 in which the Dodgers have had two errors, and they both were costly. Lenny Harris, who started in place of Jody Reed at second base, made a throwing error in the fifth inning. Reed, who was spiked by Andres Galarraga Tuesday night, has a hyper-extended left elbow and is day to day.

Strawberry, playing right field for the second time in three games, set up a two-run seventh inning when Boston’s single bounced through his legs. At the plate, Strawberry went one for four, with a single and three strikeouts.

Strawberry said after the game that he will think about whether he will continue playing.

“It’s too difficult for me to continue playing this way,” he said. “I know I’m a better player than this (he is hitting .140). I’m doing to sit down and analyze the entire situation and think it through, and I’ll make a decision before the road trip is over.”

The Dodgers scored in the third inning, when Eric Karros hit a towering home run into the left-field seats, his fourth of the season. They added another run in the fifth inning when right fielder Dante Bichette missed a ball at the fence, giving Harris a run-scoring triple to cut the Rockies lead to 3-2.

By then the rain--which had flirted with the game in the fourth inning--started falling harder.

But as soon as Gross took the mound, the lightning and thunder began. Boston added a bolt of his own, sending Gross’ first pitch into the right-field seats.

Then, with one out, Galarraga, whose .433 batting average leads the league, tripled to the fence in right-center. Strawberry threw to Harris, whose relay sailed over Tim Wallach’s head and into the photographer’s well. Galarraga scored on the error to put the Rockies ahead, 5-2.

Hayes followed with his third hit of the game, but just as Jerald Clark hit into a double play to end the inning, the downpour began.

Armando Reynoso (4-3) was the Rockies’ winning pitcher, giving up two runs in eight innings. Mark Grant came on to retire the last two batters, after Snyder’s homer, and earn his first save.