Dodgers get one right against the Rockies and win, 6-4 - Los Angeles Times
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Dodgers get one right against the Rockies and win, 6-4

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In the Dodgers’ designed universe, that was normal. Or at least closer to their grand design.

After two days of being handled by the worst pitching staff in baseball, the Dodgers did enough right to salvage the finale of their three-game series against the Colorado Rockies, winning, 6-4, before an announced crowd of 37,084 at Dodger Stadium.

The big guys hit, at least most of them, and Chad Billingsley pitched well enough to win his fourth consecutive start.

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Shane Victorino enjoyed his best game as a Dodger, going three for four, scoring three runs, driving in one and stealing a base. Matt Kemp gave the Dodgers their first lead with a three-run homer in the first inning and had three hits. Mark Ellis reached base safely four times (three walks).

Having managed one run on nine hits in the first two games against the Rockies, the Dodgers on Wednesday night had a performance that was at least acceptable, even if it really wasn’t an offensive explosion.

Billingsley (8-9) was charged with four runs on seven hits in his 6 1/3 innings, and if he wasn’t quite as sharp as he had been in three previous starts since coming off the disabled list, he was effective enough. He now has a 2.05 earned-run average in his last four starts.

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For a pitcher notorious for his inconsistency, this qualifies as a nice run.

The Rockies scored twice in the top of the first -- including a leadoff inside-the-park home run by Eric Young Jr. when his drive bounced off the center field wall and past a reaching Kemp.

But Victorino led off the bottom of the first with a single, Ellis walked and Kemp crushed his 17th home run to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.

The Rockies tied it in the fourth on a Jordan Pacheco double and a DJ LeMahieu single, but the Dodgers regained the lead when Hanley Ramirez walked with the bases loaded in the fifth.

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The Dodgers added two more in the sixth after Matt Treanor was hit by a pitch, was sacrificed to second by Billingsley and scored on a Victorino single. Victorino then scored all the way from first on Mark Ellis’ base hit.

Kenley Jansen threw a scoreless ninth to earn his 22nd save.

The Dodgers are off Thursday before beginning a 10-game road trip in Miami.

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