Izturis’ Bat, Bullpen Save the Dodgers

A shaky rotation and the San Francisco Giants have applied pressure on the Dodgers with the National League West title tantalizingly close.

They handled it well Friday night and overcame their biggest deficit of the season, rallying for an 8-6 victory in 10 innings against the Colorado Rockies.

Hideo Nomo had one of his worst outings in a nightmarish season for him, lasting only 1 1/3 innings as the Rockies raced out to a 6-1 lead in the second in front of 23,572 at Coors Field.

The National League West leaders, accustomed to working in holes this month, continued to fight back after tying the score at 6-6 in the fifth on Milton Bradley’s two-run home run. The Dodgers took the lead with two out in the 10th on Cesar Izturis’ two-run double off Shawn Chacon (1-8), and Eric Gagne then did the rest to cap the bullpen’s outstanding effort in 8 2/3 scoreless innings.

Gagne (7-3) struck out the side for the second time in as many innings, getting Jeromy Burnitz on a called strike to end the 3-hour 55-minute game. He struck out Royce Clayton for the final out in the ninth with runners on first and second.

The Dodgers (85-62) remained 2 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Giants, who won their sixth in a row.

Although the rotation has a 6.37 earned-run average and only six quality starts in 16 games this month, the Dodgers reduced their magic number to win the division to 13 with 15 games remaining.

The Dodgers said they expect a fight to the finish, and know what must be done.

“Losing wasn’t an option. We just had to win,” said Bradley, who hit his 17th homer and first since Aug. 18.

“San Diego coming in and taking three out of four from us was pretty embarrassing. We’ve just got to fight and show character. It’s time to separate the boys from the men right now.”

Chacon started the 10th and walked Bradley. After Jose Hernandez flied out, Bradley advanced to second on Brent Mayne’s fly ball and Robin Ventura walked with leadoff batter Izturis on deck.

Izturis, who had three of the Dodgers’ 10 hits, delivered on a 1-and-0 count, sending the ball off the out-of-town scoreboard in right field and out of reach of right fielderBurnitz. Bradley and Ventura scored, igniting celebrations in the Dodger dugout.

“What more can you say about Izzy? Just huge,” said Shawn Green, who started a three-run rally in the fourth, hitting a one-out homer (No. 26) to right-center estimated at 446 feet.

“He has done that all year long, and we really needed it tonight. With the way the Giants have been playing ... it would have been a real tough loss. It was a huge win.”

Izturis agreed.

“We can’t lose anymore, especially with the Giants winning,” he said. “We better do our jobs and try to win series or sweep.

“You look at the Giants keep winning, but we have to forget about it. We just have to keep going out there and winning.”

Nomo might have had his last chance to help, and the end could have come at the site of one of his greatest moments as a Dodger. He pitched the only no-hitter here Sept. 17, 1996, but fond memories couldn’t help him Friday at Coors Field.

The right-hander gave up five hits -- Vinny Castilla’s 33rd homer among them -- and six earned runs, increasing his ERA from 7.73 to 8.25. Nomo walked three and had two strikeouts while throwing only 27 strikes in 49 pitches.

In his last two starts, Nomo has failed to complete four innings. He has given up 14 hits and 12 earned runs during that span.

Is Nomo out of the rotation?

“I’m not going to talk about Hideo’s situation right now,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “We’ll talk about that tomorrow.”

Nomo might know what’s coming.

“That’s not something that I make a decision on,” Nomo said through an interpreter. “That’s something that Tracy makes a decision on.”