Bullpen Hangs Perez Out to Dry

It figures that the Dodgers would waste a rare effective outing by Carlos Perez because losing is what they do best.

The Dodgers continued to prove that $80 million doesn’t buy what it used to Wednesday night in a 7-5 loss to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

Vinny Castilla hit a two-out, three-run home run in the seventh inning against rookie reliever Jamie Arnold to give the Rockies the lead for good before a crowd of 40,221.

Castilla’s 19th homer capped the Rockies’ third consecutive victory in the four-game series. Perez did his job for a change by pitching five solid innings and leaving with the lead, but there have been plenty of candidates to prolong the Dodgers’ misery this season.

The Dodgers (35-47) have lost nine of 10 and dropped a season-high 12 games under .500. They continued to sputter offensively, stranding runners in scoring position.

Rookie catcher Angel Pena hit his first major league homer, a three-run shot, and Perez followed with a solo homer, but the Dodgers did too many things poorly for the back-to-back shots to matter in the end.

Arnold began the sixth inning with a 4-3 lead, but he couldn’t hold it.

“The team is struggling and I go hanging sliders,” Arnold said of the pitch he threw to Castilla in the seventh. “We had an opportunity to win tonight, and I let the team down.

“I know it’s a team game, but I have to do my job out there. You can’t get away with that against any batter.”

In the seventh, Arnold (2-2) walked Larry Walker with two out and the score tied, 4-4. Dante Bichette singled through the hole at second and Walker advanced to third with Castilla on deck.

“He’s a good fastball hitter, so we decided to go with a breaking pitch,” Arnold said. “I just hung it. It was a bad pitch.”

Castilla crushed Arnold’s first pitch. By the time the ball landed in the Rockies’ bullpen, the Dodgers knew they had yet another loss in their traumatic season.

“Arnold was my freshest guy, but I guess that’s asking a lot from the kid,” Manager Davey Johnson said of pitching in the Coors Field launching pad. “The thing that got me was that he threw his third-best pitch [a slider].

“That’s probably the third time he’s done it [in similar situations this season]. I guess that’s just inexperience. But that was the ballgame.”

The Dodgers had reason to be concerned about Perez pitching in Denver’s altitude after what occurred in his previous outing. Or for that matter, what has occurred all season.

Perez gave up four homers in five-plus innings during a 6-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants last Friday and began Wednesday’s game 2-9 with a 7.06 earned-run average.

But Perez has pitched well in his career at Coors Field. In three games here before Wednesday, Perez was 2-0 with a 3.46 ERA.

Perez got the job done again, limiting the Rockies to three runs in five innings. He gave up eight hits--including a two-run homer to Kurt Abbott--and was removed for a pinch-hitter in the sixth with the Dodgers leading, 4-3.

“Carlos battled, but he threw a whole lot of pitches,” Johnson said of Perez, who threw 106 pitches in five innings. “But he gave us the lead and he helped us with his bat.”

Perez and Pena helped with their bats in the fourth.

With one out and runners on first and second, the rookie catcher hit the first pitch from Colorado starter Bobby Jones. The ball traveled an estimated 438 feet and landed in the seats in left-center.

Pena’s blast ignited a celebration in the moribund visitors’ dugout, and he was greeted by a warm welcome from his teammates. The celebration continued because Perez followed with a homer to center--the fourth of his career--on a 1-and-0 count.

That marked only the second time the Dodgers have hit back-to-back homers this season. Raul Mondesi and Todd Hundley did it April 7 in the fifth inning of a 6-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium.

On Wednesday, though, the good vibes lasted only until the seventh.