Major League Baseball
LA Dodgers 6, Colorado 1
When: 10:10 PM ET, Saturday, July 2, 2016
Where: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California
Temperature: 72°
Umpires: Home - Jim Wolf, 1B - Angel Hernandez, 2B - Lance Barksdale, 3B - Will Little
Attendance: 46608

LOS ANGELES -- A minor adjustment before Saturday night's game made a major difference for left-hander Scott Kazmir and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Kazmir pitched six shutout innings to lead the Dodgers to a 6-1 win over the Colorado Rockies in front of 46,608 at Dodger Stadium.

Kazmir (7-3), who has not lost since May 9, posted his fifth consecutive victory. The left-hander retired 13 of 14 batters between the first and fifth innings and finished with 10 strikeouts while scattering three hits and a hit batsman in his six innings.

Justin Turner got three of the Dodgers' 10 hits while Adrian Gonzalez and Trayce Thompson each drove in two runs as Los Angeles used its fifth win in six games to move within five games of the first-place San Francisco Giants in the National League West.

As Kazmir was throwing in the bullpen before the game, right-handed and left-handed batters stood at the plate to simulate game action.

"I've done it before but I kind of went away from it," Kazmir said. "We talked after the last start about making some adjustments. You just get a better feel when you see hitters out there. You get that release point where you want to start pitches.

"I felt like that made me a little more comfortable. It seemed to lock me in and get me a little more prepared."

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts liked the results.

"Obviously, it made a big difference," Roberts said. "That's the Kazmir we know."

Rockies right-hander Chad Bettis retired 10 of his final 11 batters and conceded no hits after the third inning, yet watched his three-game winning streak end. In six innings, Bettis (6-6) allowed four runs, six hits, one walk and one hit batsman while striking out four.

"He left some cutters out over the plate that they got to," Colorado manager Walt Weiss said. "But after the third inning, he looked more like himself and we saw more of the pitch mix. In the second half of his outing, the curveball showed up. He had a decent change-up and he used the fastball more.

"It looked like he settled in. It took a little while, though."

DJ LeMahieu returned to Colorado's lineup after missing three of the past four games because of a bruised left knee. Nolan Arenado hit his 22nd home run of the season, but the Rockies suffered their fourth successive loss and their seventh in 10 games.

Colorado had a chance to score the first run in the top of the first inning. Kazmir hit Charlie Blackmon to begin the game, then Blackmon stole second base as Arenado struck out for the second out. But Carlos Gonzalez ended the inning by grounding out.

After hitting Blackmon, Kazmir retired the next nine Rockies and 13 of 14 through the fifth inning. The left-hander accumulated six strikeouts during that span.

The Dodgers responded in the bottom of the first by using four successive singles to take a 2-0 lead. Corey Seager began the rally by extending his hitting streak to 15 games with a single to left field.

Turner followed with a single that sent Seager to second base, and Seager came home on Adrian Gonzalez's ground ball that deflected off Bettis' glove and bounded into right-center field for a single. Turner took third on Gonzalez's hit and scored on Yasiel Puig's single up the middle.

Los Angeles added two runs in the third to build a 4-0 advantage. Turner doubled when Rockies left fielder Ryan Raburn tried to make a diving backhanded catch of Turner's line drive but missed by inches, and the ball rolled to the warning track. After Adrian Gonzalez walked, both runners advanced on Puig's groundout and both scored when Thompson lined a double to center field.

In the seventh, the Dodgers turned two hits, a walk, a throwing error, a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch into two more runs. Adrian Gonzalez contributed the sacrifice fly before Seager scored on the wild pitch.

Arenado, who now leads the National League with 66 RBIs, hit his solo homer in the ninth. The All-Star third baseman propelled a 97 mph fastball from right-hander Chris Hatcher on a 1-2 count down the left-field line.

NOTES: Colorado activated LHP Jake McGee from the disabled list and designated LHP Yohan Flande for assignment. ... Rockies SS Trevor Story was not in the lineup for the fourth time in five games because of a bruised right finger. ... Los Angeles RHP Brandon McCarthy will be activated from the disabled list to pitch Sunday. McCarthy underwent Tommy John surgery in April 2015. ... Dodgers SS Corey Seager was named the National League's rookie of the month for June. Seager led major league rookies during the month with a .343 average, 35 hits, eight home runs, 20 runs scored, 69 total bases and a .676 slugging percentage. ... Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt participated in the club's old-timers' game. Roberts played in Los Angeles from 2002 to 2004 and Honeycutt pitched between 1983 and 1987.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Colorado   LA Dodgers
Chad Bettis Player Scott Kazmir
Loss W/L Win
6.0 IP 6.0
4 Strikeouts 10
6 Hits 3
6.00 ERA 0.00
Hitting
Colorado   LA Dodgers
DJ LeMahieu Player Justin Turner
2 Hits 3
0 RBI 0
0 HR 0
3 TB 4
.500 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Colorado 5 1 10 .156 14 14 1 1 1 1
LA Dodgers 10 0 13 .303 18 7 5 3 0 0