The Los Angeles Dodgers can pick up a game on the Colorado Rockies and a series victory with a win Wednesday in the finale of a three- game set from Chavez Ravine.
The Dodgers, though, will have to achieve the feat with winless starting pitcher Josh Beckett on the hill. Beckett is 0-3 with a 4.75 earned run average in five starts and has allowed at least three or more runs in four outings this season. Beckett did not record a decision in Friday's 7-5 win over Milwaukee and gave up three runs in 5 1/3 innings.
Beckett has been able to last five-plus innings in each start and hopes his strong career mark against Colorado comes into play. The right-hander has made eight starts in this series and owns a 5-2 record with a 3.70 ERA.
Los Angeles will need Beckett to perform much like rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu did in Tuesday's 6-2 win over the Rockies. The Korean left-hander limited the Rockies to a pair of runs in six innings and scattered three hits. Ryu also struck out 12 batters and issued two walks to improve to 3-1 on the season.
Hanley Ramirez helped Ryu with a home run and was just activated off the disabled list Monday due to a thumb injury suffered during the World Baseball Classic.
"It's good to get him in the lineup and see him already being productive in the lineup," Dodgers star center fielder Matt Kemp said of Ramirez. "We've been having trouble scoring runs here lately and he's definitely going to help us with that."
Kemp was 2-for-5 with an RBI and Jerry Hairston recorded three hits, two runs scored and drove in a run for the Dodgers, who rebounded from Monday's 12-2 loss to win for the sixth time in nine tries.
After this finale with Colorado, the Dodgers will visit San Francisco for three games over the weekend. L.A. left-hander Clayton Kershaw was recently placed on the bereavement list following the death of his father and is scheduled to be with the team against the Giants. Also, lefty Ted Lilly is expected to rest after receiving an injection in his right rib cage.
Dodgers outfielder Carl Crawford was scratched from Tuesday's lineup with a tight hamstring and is day-to-day.
"We knew going into the game that he was just a little bit tight," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly told the club's website. "We thought it was going to be something he was going to be good with. As he got out there it was something we didn't want to take a chance with. We're pretty precautionary with him. And with the day off coming up (Thursday) we'll see how he's feeling (Wednesday). But we'll be careful with him."
The Rockies are still first in the NL West, sitting a game ahead of San Francisco and Arizona and 2 1/2 games in front of the Dodgers, but have dropped seven of their last 10 games.
In Tuesday's loss to L.A., Jorge De La Rosa was roughed up on the mound to the tune of six runs and 11 hits in four innings.
"I made a lot of mistakes," De La Rosa admitted. "I threw a lot of pitches where I didn't have to and I paid for it."
Carlos Gonzalez homered and Michael Cuddyer added an RBI in the loss.
Colorado, which is 2-4 on a seven-game road trip, will begin a six-game homestand this weekend versus Tampa Bay and the New York Yankees. The club hopes to get former All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki back at Dodgers Stadium and he has missed the first two tests of this series with a strained left rotator cuff.
"Compared to yesterday, today was a lot different," Tulowitzki said on the team's website. "I'm looking forward to getting back."
Juan Nicasio looks to pitch the Rockies to a series win Wednesday and will put his unblemished record on the line. Nicasio is 3-0 in five starts to go along with a mediocre 4.62 ERA and earned the win his last time out in a 6-3 triumph at Arizona on Friday. He gave up three runs -- one earned -- in five innings.
Nicasio, a right-hander, is 2-0 in three road starts this season and 1-2 with a 4.97 ERA in five career starts against the Dodgers.
The Dodgers took last season's series by a 10-8 count.
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