Surging Rockies beat L.A. in 10th
DENVER — The Colorado Rockies trailed the Los Angeles Dodgers by 15Z\x games on June 3. That lead is now at two games following Troy Tulowitzki's extra-inning heroics.
Tulowitzki lined a fastball into center field off James McDonald with one out and the bases loaded in the 10th to give the Rockies a wild 5-4 victory over the reeling Dodgers in the opener of a three-game series Tuesday night.
"We feel them coming. That is a good team," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said.
Tulowitzki's hit made a winner of Matt Herges (1-0), who pitched a perfect 10th as the Rockies (72-54), the NL wild-card leader, moved 18 games over .500 for the first time in their history.
"We look at it as all the pressure's on them," Tulowitzki said. "They're supposed to win the division. They were up by 15½. We're just messing around, I guess."
Not exactly.
The Rockies are a major league-best 52-22 since June 3, when they were a season-worst 12 games under .500.
With Huston Street, the NL saves co-leader, unavailable to close against the Dodgers, the Rockies gave up two runs in the ninth, including Manny Ramirez's RBI single off rookie Matt Daley with two outs to tie it at 4.
The Rockies beat San Francisco 6-4 in 14 innings on Monday on a grand slam by Ryan Spilborghs.
Cardinals 1, Astros 0At St. Louis, Adam Wainwright allowed three hits over eight innings to become the National League's first 15-game winner and Brendan Ryan scored from first on Albert Pujols' one-out double in the first inning for the game's only run.The Cardinals (73-54) have gone 14-3 since Aug. 7 and are a season-best 19 games above .500.
Giants 5, Diamondbacks 4At San Francisco, Travis Ishikawa hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth inning after scoring the tying run in the seventh on a wild pitch. Juan Uribe homered for the Giants, who bounced back from a heartbreaking 14-inning loss at Colorado on Monday night and snapped a three-game losing streak.Ishikawa had one extra-base hit in his previous 70 at-bats — going a stretch of 31 games without one — before his double in the seventh. He connected off Jon Rauch (2-2) for his ninth homer.Jeremy Affeldt (1-1) pitched the eighth for the win.
Marlins 2, Mets 1At Miami, Sean West (5-5) gave up six hits in six innings to outpitch Nelson Figueroa (1-3), who started in place of ace Johan Santana, who will undergo season-ending surgery for bone chips in his left elbow.
Padres 2, Braves 1At Atlanta, David Eckstein his a 12th-inning double off Kris Medlen (3-4) to win it for San Diego, which blew a ninth-inning lead.Joe Thatcher (1-0) pitched 1 1-3 scoreless innings for the win and Edward Mujica earned his second save by retiring the Braves in order in the 12th.
Nationals 15, Cubs 6At Chicago, Elijah Dukes hit a grand slam in a six-run fifth inning and Josh Willingham had two homers and six RBIs as Washington rocked Carlos Zambrano in his return from the disabled list.Dukes drove in a career-high five runs as the Nationals sent the Cubs to their 13th loss in 18 games. Willingham was 4 for 4, including a solo homer off Zambrano (7-5) and a three-run shot off Tom Gorzelanny.
Reds 8, Brewers 6At Milwaukee, Joey Votto and Laynce Nix hit solo home runs in the top of the 13th inning for Cincinnati.
