Rockies pull nearer Dodgers in baseball showdown

Rockies pull nearer Dodgers in baseball showdown

(AFP) – 11 hours ago

LOS ANGELES — Ubaldo Jimenez struck out 10 batters to spark the Colorado Rockies over the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 to tighten their Major League Baseball fight for a division crown.

Both teams are already assured of playoff berths but the Dodgers need one victory over Colorado in their final two weekend games to claim the National League West division title instead of falling to the fast-closing Rockies.

Colorado won for the fifth time in a row while the Dodgers saw their losing skid hit a season-worst five games in the first game of their pivotal three-game series.

Troy Tulowitzki smacked a two-run home run while Yorvit Torrealba added a two-run double for the Rockies while right-hander Jimenez, 15-12, allowed only one run on two hits and trimmed his earned-run average to 3.51, the lowest ever for a Rockies starting pitcher.

Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez struck out four times in as many plate appearances to match a career-high, including a sendoff in the seventh inning when Los Angeles had two base runners.

The Dodgers announced that Japanese right-handed pitcher Hiroki Kuroda would not be available for the first round of the playoffs after an MRI exam showed a cervical spinal hernia. Kuroda missed two months with a strained oblique and three more after being hit by a batted ball.