Dodgers, Yasmani Grandal pester Colorado Rockies for win

LOS ANGELES >> The Dodgers were so aoying at times in their 7-4 win over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday, they were good.

In the eighth iing, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez barely moved to catch a low line drive hit by Carlos Gonzalez. He dropped the baseball, tagged out D.J. Lemahieu between first and second base, then stepped on the bag to complete an iing-ending double play.

In the fourth iing, second baseman Chase Utley flipped a no-look throw behind his back to retire Tyler Chatwood at first base -- a play the veteran admitted was “pretty lucky, but we’ll take it.”

At other times, the Dodgers were so good that they were aoying.

Yasmani Grandal was 3-for-3 as a left-handed hitter when he stepped in as a right-hander in the seventh iing. The Rockies’ left-handed pitcher, Boone Logan, got ahead in the count 0-2. But Grandal battled back to even the count, then sent a 93-mph fastball 408 feet into the gloaming for a grand slam.

The home run turned a 4-3 deficit into a 7-4 lead that the Dodgers never relinquished.

“I feel like it’s just staying with your approach,” Grandal said of his success switching from left to right. “You’re looking for the one pitch. The first pitch of the at-bat, (Logan) gave it to me. I just missed it.”

Grandal was game’s the offensive hero, finishing 4 for 4 with five runs batted in before the aounced crowd of 48,344 at Dodger Stadium. He also coected for a solo home run against Chatwood, giving him a total of 27 for the season. No Dodger catcher has hit that many since Mike Piazza in 1997, and no one who claims catcher as his primary position has hit that many this year.

The grand slam was the second of Grandal’s career and his first as a Dodger.

Grandal entered the game with a .189 batting average in September, leading to questions about the severity of a nagging elbow injury.

“The elbow had been going on for a while, but not to the point where we should have stopped it, given it some rest,” Grandal said. “Most of it was (chasing) balls out of the zone.”

Combined with the San Francisco Giants’ win in San Diego, the Dodgers trimmed their magic number to clinch the National League West to 4. They lead the division by six games with nine to play.

Until the Dodgers’ seventh-iing rally, there was little reason to hope for a victory.

Pinch hitter Andre Ethier led off the iing with a double, followed by one-out walks by Yasiel Puig and Corey Seager to load the bases. Logan walked Gonzalez with the bases loaded, forcing in a run and setting up Grandal’s heroic home run.

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“To grind out an at-bat and to click one, to put us ahead with that grand slam -- what a night he had,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We’re going to need him going forward.”

Brett Anderson’s attempt at redemption was a partial success.

In two August starts after recovering from preseason back surgery, Anderson failed to last more than three iings or allow fewer than five runs. Thursday, he gave the Dodgers five iings. Most of them were very good.

“In the ‘pen I thought he was going to have a really good game,” Grandal said of Anderson. “He sinker was working great. His four-seamer was working great. I thought he was going to go seven or eight iings.”

But Anderson allowed three hits and a walk in the second iing before he recorded an out. That allowed Colorado to take a 3-0 lead, aided in part when Dodgers right fielder Josh Reddick bobbled a bouncing ball in the corner.

Grandal’s solo home run in the bottom of the third iing narrowed the Dodgers’ deficit to 3-1. Lemahieu, who leads the National League in batting average, answered with a solo shot of his own in the fifth iing.

Anderson’s final line: five iings, six hits, four runs (all earned), one walk and two strikeouts. He lowered his earned-run average from 24.75 to 15.00.

More importantly, Anderson said he had no issues with the finger blister, wrist injury or back problems that have limited him to only three starts this season.

“It was finally good not to be a full detriment to the team, actually participate for a little bit of time,” Anderson said.

Luis Avilan (3-0) threw a scoreless seventh iing to earn the win. Joe Blanton pitched a scoreless eighth and Kenley Jansen a scoreless ninth for his 46th save.