Dodgers survive scares to beat the Rockies, 11-7

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Due to early deadlines Saturday night, I had to file my story when the game ended. I wrote a final version with post-game quotes that was supposed to run on the website, but it never made it. So, here it is:

Don Mattingly took a moment to collect his thoughts.

“Oh, goodness,” he said.

Jamey Carroll let out a sigh of relief.

“Phhhhhew,” he said.

Aaron Miles was at a loss for words.

“Man …,” he said. “Yeah …”

Miles laughed.

They were talking about how Tony Gwynn Jr. had to make a diving catch in left field to end a ninth-inning, bases-loaded threat by the Colorado Rockies to seal an 11-7 victory Saturday night at Coors Field.

But that wasn’t the only scare the Dodgers survived on the penultimate day of their three-city, 10-game trip.

Hours before the first pitch, Matt Kemp ran in left field under the supervision of trainer Stan Conte and determined that his tight left hamstring had recovered to where he could return to the lineup.

“He’s a guy you can’t replace in the lineup right now,” Carroll said.

Though Kemp appeared like he might have been hindered by his hamstring on a couple of plays, he denied that was the case.

After doubling in the Dodgers’ first run in the fifth inning to tie the game, 1-1, Kemp stumbled over second base and was thrown out.

By misplaying a ball hit his way by Seth Smith in the eighth inning, Kemp aided the Rockies in the first of their two comeback attempts. Two runs scored on the play and Smith later scored on a single by Charlie Blackmon to cap a five-run inning for the Rockies.

Blackmon’s single closed the Rockies’ deficit to 7-6.

Scott Elbert failed to retire any hitters that inning and his replacement, Matt Guerrier, was charged with two runs.

The Dodgers responded with four runs of their own, including two on a single by Carroll, to extend their lead to 11-6.

Carroll and Miles each had four hits and two runs batted in.

Javy Guerra was the next Dodgers reliever to be tested.

Guerra started the inning by serving up a ground-rule double to Carlos Gonzalez. Disaster was averted when Guerra caught a hard-hit line drive by Eric Young Jr. and doubled off Gonzalez at second.

But the next three hitters singled, closing the gap to 11-7. Pinch hitter Ryan Spilborghs walked to load the bases.

Up came Blackmon, who hit a line drive the opposite way.

Gwynn dived after it. He caught it.

Had Gwynn failed to catch the ball, three runs would have scored. The Rockies would have had another man in scoring position.

“You can feel momentum,” Gwynn said. “You can literally feel it changing. I always tell myself that if there’s a chance for me to make a play, I’m going at it 100%.”

The catch was the second game-saving diving catch Gwynn had made to end a game. He sealed the Dodgers’ 3-2 victory over the San Diego Padres with a similar grab.

On Saturday, Gwynn said he had a special source of motivation: a trash-talking fan.

After Young lined into the doubleplay in the ninth inning, Gwynn said he taunted the fan who had berated him the entire game.

“I put my glove on my back side and acted as if it was a mouth,” he said.

But …

“Never fails,” Gwynn said. “Every time I start popping off, the other team rallies. I was thinking to myself, ‘Oh God, what did I do?’”

So, Gwynn said that when he caught the ball, he couldn’t wait to get up and search the stands for the trash-talking fan.

“I just winked at him,” Gwynn said.

---Dylan Hernandez reporting from Denver