Dodgers Can’t Win Them All

Disregard the buzz about Randy Johnson for a moment. The San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres would much rather have certified Dodger stopper Shawn Estes, who could bolster their chances of catching the National League West leaders over the season’s final two months.

Estes thwarted the red-hot Dodgers for the third time this season, holding off a late charge Wednesday night in front of 34,343 at Dodger Stadium as the Colorado Rockies ended the Dodgers’ season-high eight-game winning streak with a 6-5 victory.

Shawn Green blasted a two-out solo homer to right in the ninth inning to pull the Dodgers within a run, but pinch-hitter Robin Ventura grounded out to first with pinch-runner Dave Roberts on second as the Dodgers failed to complete a come-from-behind victory for the first time in seven games to open the second half.

Estes didn’t sparkle as he had in his first two outings against the Dodgers, giving up three of his four runs during a sixth-inning rally, but he was good enough to help the Rockies topple baseball’s hottest team. The Dodgers’ first loss since the All-Star break left them with a 2 1/2-game lead over the Giants and Padres.

Estes, 3-0 with a 2.79 earned-run average against the Dodgers, was in complete command early, retiring the first 10 batters and allowing only Jose Hernandez’s bases-empty homer while needing 63 pitches to complete five innings.

Trailing, 6-1, the Dodgers put themselves on the cusp of another startling rally in the sixth, after pinch-hitter Olmedo Saenz drew a leadoff walk on a full count and went to second on Cesar Izturis’ single through the left side of the infield.

Hernandez then ripped a run-scoring double down the left-field line before Milton Bradley followed with a run-scoring groundout and Adrian Beltre added a sacrifice fly to deep left field that made it 6-4.

The Dodgers put two on with one out in the seventh, prompting Colorado Manager Clint Hurdle to pull Estes, before reliever Steve Reed induced a 5-4-3 double play off the bat of pinch-hitter Paul Lo Duca.

Said Estes, who had allowed two runs in 13 innings during his first two starts against the Dodgers in April: “They’re a different ballclub over there. It seemed like they could win the ballgame at any moment.”

Dodger Manager Jim Tracy, who before the game had praised his team’s defense and patience at the plate, had reason to lament both afterward. Kazuhisa Ishii failed to cover first base on a play that eventually cost the Dodgers two runs, and hitters repeatedly grounded out early in the count against Estes (10-4) in the first few innings.

But the biggest disappointment was Ishii (11-5), who gave up seven hits and six runs in 3 1/3 innings, his second-shortest outing of the season, to end a two-game personal winning streak. Ishii struck out one and walked three, including one with the bases loaded in the fourth that gave Colorado a 4-0 lead.

Duaner Sanchez relieved Ishii with the bases still loaded and allowed two more runners to score, one on Royce Clayton’s groundout and another on a wild pitch.

Ishii had cost the Dodgers two runs in the first when he failed to cover make a play.

The erratic left-hander had loaded the bases with nobody out after giving up consecutive singles and a walk before Vinny Castilla lined out to third baseman Beltre. Larry Walker then grounded out to first baseman Green, who threw to shortstop Izturis for a force-out at second. Walker was only about two-thirds of the way up the first-base line by then, but there was no play at first because Ishii had not left the mound.

Aaron Miles scored on the play, and Preston Wilson made it 2-0 when he followed with a run-scoring single to left-center.

“That was my miss,” Ishii said through an interpreter of his failure to run to first base. “I should have covered the base, and I’m going to think about it tonight.”