LOS ANGELES – A.J. Ellis lined an RBI single over a drawn-in infield in the 11th inning after Matt Kemp doubled home the tying run in the ninth, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers record their biggest comeback win of the season in a 7-6 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.
George Sherrill (2-2) relieved demoted Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton with the bases loaded and two out in the 11th, and struck out NL batting leader Carlos Gonzalez.
The Dodgers got a break in the bottom half when Rafael Furcal was ruled safe at first by umpire Jim Reynolds on a potential double-play grounder to second base. Kemp's single against Manny Delcarmen (0-2) sent Furcal to third, and Andre Ethier was intentionally walked before Ellis lined a 3-2 pitch just over the outstretched glove of leaping shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.
Down to their last two outs and trailing 6-5, the Dodgers pulled even against closer Huston Street when Rafael Furcal doubled to right-center, advanced on a wild pitch and scored when Kemp drilled a 2-1 pitch down the left field line. The blown save was Street's fifth in 25 opportunities.
Kemp and Andre Ethier hit solo homers for Los Angeles, the 23rd of the season for both. Kemp's drive center off Matt Belisle in the seventh inning snapped a drought of 23 games and 79 at-bats since his 449-foot homer at Milwaukee on Aug. 24.
It was the seventh time this season that Kemp and Ethier homered in the same game, and the seventh time they've won. They were 2-0 under those circumstances last season, when they captured their second straight division title.
The Rockies staked Jason Hammel to a 6-1 lead, but the right-hander was removed with an undisclosed injury after giving up three runs in the fourth.
Trainer Keith Dugger and manager Jim Tracy went to the mound to check on him with an 0-2 count on Kemp, who hit an inning-ending grounder after the Dodgers got two-out RBI singles by Rod Barajas and pinch-hitter Jamey Carroll, and a run-scoring double by Furcal.
Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw was charged with six runs — four earned — and four hits over four innings in his second-shortest outing this season.
It was a stark contrast from Kershaw's previous start last Tuesday at San Francisco, when the 22-year-old left-hander allowed four hits in a 1-0 victory for his first complete game.
Kershaw came into Sunday's outing with a string of 29 consecutive scoreless innings against the Rockies at Chavez Ravine, a streak that ended when he walked three of his first four batters and watched all of them score on a double by Jason Giambi that hit off the glove of left fielder Jay Gibbons near the top of the fence — and should have been caught.
Colorado scored three times in the second. Jonathan Herrera doubled home a run, Gonzalez followed with an RBI single and Herrera scored on Tulowitzki's infield out. It was Tulowitzki's 34th RBI this month, tying the franchise record for September that was set by Matt Holliday in 2006.
NOTES: Dodgers manager Joe Torre was scheduled to fly from Los Angeles to New York on Sunday night and make his first visit to the new Yankee Stadium on Monday — along with hitting coach and future Dodgers skipper Don Mattingly — for the unveiling of a monument dedicated to George Steinbrenner in the ballpark's famed Monument Park. ... Don't expect Torre to give Mattingly any dress rehearsals in the final series of the season, in terms of managing the club. Torre said he will select a couple of players to run the show during the first two games of the Arizona series — including retiring C Brad Ausmus, who will start behind the plate in Torre's Dodgers finale. Torre let Ausmus manage the final game of last season, and Los Angeles won 5-3. ... Kershaw is within 3 2-3 innings of reaching the 200 mark for the first time in his three-year career, after pitching 171 last season and 107 2-3 in 2008.
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