Dodgers are wasteful but are not left wanting

The Dodgers’ starting lineup hits for power and scores a lot of runs.

But it was the team’s bench, led by backup catcher Brad Ausmus, that lifted the Dodgers on Friday night.

Or, as Ausmus put it, the game was “the revenge of the old guys.”

Ausmus, who turned 40 this month, singled home James Loney in the ninth inning to give the Dodgers a 6-5 win over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

“There’s no question over the course of 162 games your bench has to pitch in,” said Ausmus, who got the key hit through the left side off Colorado reliever Manny Corpas (0-1).

“We’ve been there, we’ve been regular players, so when we’re shoved into a game at whatever point we know what the feeling is,” Ausmus said.

His winning hit came one inning after Colorado had tied the score, 5-5, on Clint Barmes’ two-run homer against Dodgers reliever Hong-Chih Kuo.

But Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton preserved the victory in front of 36,151 and Kuo (1-0) still got the win.

“I thought Kuo threw the ball really well,” said Dodgers Manager Joe Torre. “I know the result wasn’t good, but I thought he had good stuff.”

Ausmus, filling in for regular catcher Russell Martin, also hit a two-out double off Rockies reliever Huston Street in the eighth inning and then scored on a single by pinch-hitter Mark Loretta to break a 3-3 tie.

Ausmus helped the Dodgers -- whose 12-5 record is the National League’s best -- avoid the sting of two earlier innings, when the team threatened to blow the game open by loading the bases with none out against Colorado starter Aaron Cook, and failed to cash in each time.

The Dodgers stranded 11 runners overall but nonetheless improved to 2-2 on their nine-game trip; they lost two of three to the Houston Astros this week.

“We’re a good team,” Torre said. “We’re not whole yet as a pitching staff but as far as going out there and fighting for it, we’re there right now. We can do a lot of things. We got a couple of two-out base hits that made the difference for us.”

The Dodgers had swept three games from Colorado (5-10) last weekend at Dodger Stadium as part of an eight-game winning streak.

Cook and Dodgers starter Eric Stults were less than sharp but managed to leave the game tied. Each allowed three earned runs and seven hits, with Stults also walking five batters. Cook walked six.

The Dodgers struck first. Rafael Furcal walked and Orlando Hudson singled in the first inning, and they scored on singles by Manny Ramirez and Andre Ethier, respectively.

Loney then walked and the bases were loaded with nobody out. But the Dodgers failed to chase Cook when Matt Kemp and Casey Blake both hit comebackers that Cook easily fielded, turning the second one into a double play.

After Colorado scored three times, the Dodgers got even again in the fifth inning when Hudson and Ramirez singled and Ethier doubled down the right-field line, scoring Hudson and sending Ramirez to third.

Then came missed opportunity No. 2. After Cook intentionally walked Loney to load the bases, Kemp and Blake struck out and Ausmus grounded into a force play.

Although Kuo struggled, Dodgers reliever Ronald Belisario fared better. He threw two innings in relief of Stults without allowing a run or hit.

“There was very gritty pitching on both sides,” Torre said. Cook had the “bases loaded, none out -- twice -- and we came away empty, though he obviously didn’t have his best command.”

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james.peltz@latimes.com