Chad Billingsley dominates as Los Angeles Dodgers defeat Colorado Rockies 7-1 - MLB Update
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ starter Chad Billingsley had an impressive outing with the ball as he struck-out eight batters in the club’s 7-1 triumph over the Colorado Rockies in the series opener at Dodgers Stadium on Monday, May 30.
Apart from eight strike-outs, the 26-year-old right-hand ball thrower gave just one run on eleven hits and walked two to earn his fourth win of the season. In his twelfth start, the pitcher held the opposition scoreless until the fourth when the Rockies’
Ty Wigginton hammered a dazzling 417-feet long homer.
In the eighth inning, he handed the ball to reliever Scott Elbert, who allowed a hit on just six pitches before the Dodgers’ manager Joe Torre replaced him with Matt Guerrier up the middle of the inning. The 32-year-old veteran pitcher acted as per the expectations
of the manager and remained hitless in the remaining inning.
"It seems to be contagious when guys start swinging the bat," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "It feels good to be able to put some games together, but it's got to be consistent over time. We're a club that consistently hasn't put up runs."
Closer Javy Guerra threw a perfect ninth inning, gave just two hits and stuck-out one batter to earn his club their 25th win of the season.
As the pitchers dominated the offence with their magical spells, the batters posted seven runs to assist them. Andre Ethier led off the game with an RBI double in the bottom of the third inning after the Rockies’ starter Jason Hammel threw two splendid innings.
Then, Matt Kemp hit a sacrifice fly for an RBI single and James Loney added a fourth run of the inning.
The Rockies’ Wigginton hammered a homer in the fourth to trim the lead to 1-4. However, Ethier touched his second RBI single of the game in the fifth inning before Loney blistered a 404-feet long two-run homer to take the lead to a 7-1 unassailable position.
The lead remained there until the end of the game and the Dodgers took the first game of the three-game series.
"Even when we got down, there were base runners out there and opportunities to get back in it," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. "But that big hit just continually seems to elude us right now. We just have to keep fighting our way through it. It's painful,
and it gets more painful by the day."
Hammel consumed all of the seven runs on ten hits, walked one and struck-out just two batters to bear his fifth loss of the season. Relievers’ Matt Daley, Greg Reynolds and closer Matt Belisle did not yield any run over their short spells but they did not
receive any support from the batters.
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