Dodger Hitters Go Solo Route

Dave Roberts isn’t going to save the Dodgers with marvelous glovework every night, though the center fielder nearly took away a two-run home run for a second consecutive game Friday when a Jay Payton blast went only inches above his glove and over the outfield wall.

No, on this night, the Dodgers were saved by a most unfamiliar source: offense.

Ron Coomer provided the tying home run and Adrian Beltre smashed a go-ahead solo shot as the Dodgers rallied to defeat the Colorado Rockies, 6-4, before 39,092 at Dodger Stadium for their second consecutive victory.

The Dodgers overcame deficits of 2-0 and 4-3 to keep pace in the tight National League wild-card hunt and remain 1 1/2 games behind Philadelphia and Florida.

The scoring was completed before the end of the sixth inning, but one of the more dramatic moments occurred in the ninth when Dodger closer Eric Gagne faced Payton, who had already drilled a pair of two-run homers, with a runner on first and two outs.

“I tried not to think about that,” said Gagne, who took over the major league lead in saves with his 45th. “That’s negative thinking.”

Gagne struck out Payton when the left fielder failed to check his swing, completing an inning in which he struck out the side to become the first pitcher in baseball history to record consecutive 45-save seasons.

Dodger starter Kevin Brown (13-7) yielded only three hits over a solid seven-inning performance, though two of them left the ballpark off the bat of Payton.

“If I had made better pitches against him,” Brown said, “it would have been a lot easier game for everybody.”

Said Dodger Manager Jim Tracy: “There was really no one else in their lineup who was able to figure him out.”

Payton, who recorded his second multi-homer game of the season, had given the Rockies a 2-0 lead in the second courtesy of his first two-run homer.

The Dodgers took their first lead after scoring one run in the second and two more in the third. Cesar Izturis’ double past diving center fielder Preston Wilson in the second brought home Jolbert Cabrera with the Dodgers’ first run and marked Izturis’ career-high 32nd run batted in.

Rickey Henderson hit a one-out single in the third but appeared to be caught stealing when Colorado starter Cory Vance threw to first as Henderson took off for second. But Henderson slid in below the tag and scored on Shawn Green’s double that tied the score at 2-2.

Paul Lo Duca drove in Green one out later on a double over the outstretched glove of Payton in left field as the Dodgers went ahead, 3-2.

But Payton put the Rockies back on top, 4-3, in the fourth with his second two-run homer, which landed barely over Roberts’ glove. Roberts had taken away a homer from the Houston Astros’ Lance Berkman on Thursday when he reached over the center-field fence at Minute Maid Park.

Coomer tied it at 4-4 in the fourth with a line-drive homer to left and Beltre put the Dodgers ahead to stay in the fifth with a solo shot to center on an 0-and-2 pitch.

Henderson drove in an insurance run in the sixth when he drew a bases-loaded walk on a full-count pitch from reliever Adam Bernero to bring home Cabrera.

Henderson hammered a pitch down the right-field line earlier during the at-bat that was ruled foul by first-base umpire Mark Wegner, prompting Tracy to race from the dugout in protest. Tracy earned his fifth ejection of the season after a brief argument, though replays clearly indicated that Henderson’s line drive was foul.

Tracy later conceded that the ball was foul after watching replays, but he said he was prompted to argue the call after watching the reaction of first-base coach John Shelby.

“That’s a ball that, if fair, all three runs are going to score and that’s going to be it for the guys on the other side of the field,” Tracy said.