James Loney, Derek Lowe help Dodgers avoid sweep
DODGERS 3, COLORADO 1
Loney hits a home run and drives in two runs, and Lowe pitches strong as L.A. salvages one of three games from Colorado.
James Loney hit a home run and drove in two runs to lead the Dodgers to a 3-1 victory today that prevented them from being swept by the Colorado Rockies in a three-game series at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers moved to within 1 1/2 games of first place Arizona, which hosts San Diego tonight.
The Dodgers will hit the road for 10 days starting Friday, when they face Philadelphia in the opening game of a four-game series. Starting for the Dodgers will be Greg Maddux, who was acquired in a trade with San Diego this week.
Derek Lowe (10-10), who started today, limited the Rockies to a run and four hits over 6 1/3 innings.
The only run he gave up came in the first. Leadoff hitter Clint Barmes singled, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout Seth Smith and scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt Holliday.
The Dodgers tied the score in the bottom of fourth, when Loney drove in Manny Ramirez with a single to left on a 3-and-2 pitch. Ramirez reached base on an error and moved into scoring position by stealing second.
A single by Andre Ethier an inning later off Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa, also on a full-count pitch, drove in Matt Kemp for the go-ahead run.
Loney extended the Dodgers' lead to 3-1 in the seventh with a solo home run to right. The home run was Loney's 10th of the season.
Hong-Chih Kuo pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings to set up Jonathan Broxton, who rebounded from a loss the previous night to earn his 10th save.
dylan.hernandez@latimes.com
