Casey Blake’s grand slam breaks it open for Dodgers

Reporting from Denver

Sitting at his desk in the manager’s office after the Dodgers’ 6-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, Manager Joe Torre had his uniform top partially unbuttoned, exposing his blue undershirt he was wearing.

“In beard we trust,” read the shirt, which had Casey Blake’s face in the middle.

“I told him I was going to wear it today,” Torre said, smiling.

Blake was the hero of the day as the suddenly streaking Dodgers won their fourth in a row, belting a grand slam in the eighth inning that broke a 1-1 tie.

At an-bat that started out with Blake wanting to be aggressive — “I knew he was going to come right at me,” he said of Rockies reliever Matt Belisle — turned into an exercise in patience.

He laid off a 2-2 slider to work the count full. He fouled off a pitch that was low and away.

The next pitch soared over the wall in left-center.

“Great at-bat,” Torre said. “We needed it, obviously.”

The season has largely been a frustrating one for Blake, who was two for four to raise his average to .254.

He said he has worked with hitting coach Don Mattingly and Jeff Pentland on staying in the middle of the field, and that he feels everything is starting to come together for him.

The home run was Blake’s 13th of the season and second in as many days. He is nine for 25 (.360) over his last six games.

Blake was quick to credit the hitters in front of him, pointing out how Scott Podsednik and Ryan Theriot had multi-hit games, and how Andre Ethier’s double earlier in the eighth inning tied the score, 1-1.

“Without those guys doing what they did, I wouldn’t have the chance to do that,” he said.

While Blake said the Dodgers are trying not to pay attention to trade rumors — Blake himself was placed on waivers this week — he said he hopes they can remain in contention and convince management to keep the current group of players together.

“We have a good run in us,” Blake said.

No set roles

The Dodgers aren’t likely to assign specific roles to their relievers for the rest of the season, Torre said.

“It’s too late to all of a sudden hand out jobs,” Torre said.

While Jonathan Broxton has improved his form lately, Torre said he would rather not designate him the closer.

“We’re going to try to win and use the bullpen according to situations,” he said.

Broxton entered the game in the bottom of the seventh inning and gave up one run over 1 2/3 innings. Kuo, who replaced him as closer, pitched the final 1 1/3 innings and held the Rockies scoreless.

Kershaw battles

Of the five games Ubaldo Jimenez has lost, two have come against Clayton Kershaw.

Kershaw, who handed the NL All-Star starter his first defeat of the season May 9, didn’t get the win Friday. But he held the Rockies to one run over six innings despite battling control problems and running his pitch count to 115.

“Tonight was pretty much a battle,” he said.

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com