LOS ANGELES -- Don Mattingly had enough confidence to keep Chris Withrow on the mound with one out in the eighth inning after he walked the bases loaded.
[b]Kyle Tucker Jersey[/b] . It paid off against two of the toughest outs in the majors. Withrow struck out Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki to escape the jam and help preserve a 6-3 victory for Paul Maholm and the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night. "Obviously, you dont like to see the bases loaded with those guys coming up," Maholm said. "But youve got confidence in Chris because with the stuff he has, he can strike out anybody and get out of anything he gets himself into." Withrow, a first-round draft pick by the Dodgers in 2007, relieved Maholm with a 5-2 lead and walked the bases loaded. But Gonzalez, who has hit 15 homers against the Dodgers since the start of the 2010 season, fanned on a 1-2 pitch and Tulowitzki whiffed on a 2-2 delivery. "Thats a perfect situation for me and Tulo to change the game, but it didnt happen tonight," Gonzalez said. Adrian Gonzalez homered for the third straight game and Matt Kemp also went deep in support of Maholm (1-2). The left-hander threw 84 pitches over seven innings, allowing two runs and six hits in his fourth start with the defending NL West champions. "Everything was working," Maholm said. "I was able to throw breaking balls for strikes. I fell behind some guys, but I was confident enough in my sinker to throw it behind in the count and get some groundballs. I felt way more in rhythm today than I have in any other outing." Maholm, a veteran left-hander who signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract as a free agent in February, had lost his previous seven decisions against the Rockies and was 1-8 with a 6.63 ERA in 10 career starts against them. "I cant tell you I was the most confident person going to the mound, knowing my history against them," Maholm said. "But I havent faced them in a few years, and I think Ive changed as a pitcher since then. Besides, I wasnt pitching in Colorado, so you just go out there, try to get ahead and get groundballs." Yasiel Puig added an insurance run in the ninth with a ground-rule double, and Kenley Jansen got three outs for his ninth save after Brian Wilson walked the first two batters in the ninth -- one of whom scored on a bases-loaded groundout by Charlie Culberson. Juan Nicasio (2-1) gave up five runs and eight hits in 4 1-3 innings for Colorado. The Dodgers grabbed a 3-1 lead with three runs in the third, capped by Kemps towering drive to right field that barely cleared Brandon Barnes outstretched glove as he made a leaping try. Kemp initially thought he was robbed of a homer -- as did the crowd of 45,241 -- until Barnes opened his empty glove. A relieved Kemp then continued his jog around the bases with a huge grin after his second homer in 52 at-bats since the pair he hit against San Franciscos Matt Cain on April 6 at Dodger Stadium. "I thought he caught the ball. Then I saw him slam his glove on the ground and that showed me that he didnt, so I was happy about that," Kemp said. Puig added a two-out RBI single in the fourth -- the first time this season that hes driven in runs in back-to-back games after his home run and RBI single Friday night. Gonzalez led off the fifth with his 1,500th career hit, an opposite-field homer to left that gave the Dodgers a 5-2 lead. The Rockies opened the scoring in the third on Barnes two-out RBI single. Colorado got another run in the fifth on Justin Morneaus RBI single, following a double to centre by Wilin Rosario that Kemp lost in the twilight. But second baseman Gordon kept the damage to a minimum when he robbed DJ LeMahieu of a single up the middle with a diving play and started an inning-ending double play with a backhanded flip to shortstop Justin Turner. NOTES: Ramirez left the game because of a bruised right thumb. X-rays were negative. ... Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw will throw another bullpen session Monday, following the 56-pitch minor league rehab start he had on Friday night with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga. Mattingly would prefer one more rehab start for the two-time Cy Young Award winner, who hasnt pitched since the season opener on March 22 in Australia because of a muscle strain in his upper back. "I know our medical staff does. Im not sure if Kersh buys into that," Mattingly said. "Theres been a small debate going on, but I dont want to be a part of the debate. Well just see how his pen goes, and go from there. He felt good today. He said he felt like he didnt even pitch." ... Colorado RHP Chris Martin made his big league debut with a scoreless seventh inning, a day after the team purchased his contract from Triple-A Colorado Springs. ... Rockies 3B Nolan Arenado extended his career-best hitting streak to 16 games with a sixth-inning single.
[b]Derek Bell Jersey[/b] . "Its way better than running gassers, thats for sure," the inside linebacker said Monday, when the Chargers started their third and final week of organized team activities, which are practices in shorts, jerseys and helmets.
[b]Ryan Pressly Jersey[/b] . As their best player continued to orchestrate his dramatic exit from the club, the Whitecaps added size and creativity at Thursdays Major League Soccer SuperDraft.ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Anaheim Ducks let the sting of their season-opening loss at Colorado carry into their second game at Minnesota. And their improved play led to their first win of the season. Anaheim scored early in the first two periods, Jonas Hiller had 30 saves and Mathieu Perreault had the game-winning goal with 4.9 seconds left in overtime and the Ducks beat the Wild 4-3 on Saturday night. The Ducks needed nearly three full periods to score in their season-opening 6-1 loss to the Avalanche on Wednesday night. But they needed less than two minutes to score against the Wild, and led 2-0 before the game was 6 minutes old. "This is a team that was third overall last year, and they didnt like getting criticized and ridiculed for what happened the last game," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Any headline you read was about how bad we were, so the pride took over a little bit. It was a big factor in the game." Perreaults game-winner came at 4:55 of overtime on a 2-on-1 break with Francois Beauchemin. He dumped the puck to a streaking Beauchemin, who gave it right back to Perreault, and the centre flipped his shot past Niklas Backstrom to give the Ducks their first win of the season. "Nobody in that locker room was happy with the way we lost in the season opener," said Beauchemin, who also assisted on Saku Koivus first-period goal. "We wanted to get back to the way we can play. And even though we didnt play our best game tonight, I thought we came out pretty good." Backstrom finished with 26 saves, and Zach Parise scored two goals for the Wild, who went to overtime for the second straight game, but again failed to pick up a win after opening the season with a shootout loss to the L.A. Kings. Unlike the Ducks, the Wild had felt positive about their season-opening loss -- not so much on Saturday. "Thursday night, we had a real good 55 minutes and couldnt quite finish it off," Keith Ballard said. "Tonight we came out and we werent ready to play. We were down 2-0 to a pretty desperate hockey team and a pretty skilled hockey team.
[b]Bryan Abreu Jersey[/b]. After that we played a solid game, but you have to clean this up before these things get out of hand." The Wild again looked good on offence, outshooting Anaheim 33-30, including a 17-8 advantage in the second period. But similar to their loss to the Kings, their shots had a hard time finding the back of the net. The Ducks took a 1-0 lead when Koivu redirected a pass from Beauchemin past Backstrom at the 1:40 mark. Four minutes later, Nick Bonino added a power-play goal after picking up Corey Perrys rebound wide open in front of the net to make it 2-0. Minnesota cut Anaheims lead to 2-1 at 11:52 when Parise scored his first goal of the season on a backhand pass from Mikko Koivu on the power play. The Ducks struck again quickly in the second when Jakob Silfverberg scored his second goal of the season on a nice pass from Perreault behind the net. Despite outworking Anaheim in the second, the Wild found themselves trailing by one heading into the final period. Jason Pominvilles slap shot from just above the right circle on the power play at 8:28 of the second made it 3-2. Parises second goal tied it at three 1:15 into the third period after Ballard intercepted a pass at the blue line and found him in front of the net. Parise initially missed on a tip, but he put back his own rebound. "Good to battle back and get a point, but yeah, were not real happy with this one," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. Notes: The Ducks have beaten the Wild five consecutive times. ... Wild C Charlie Coyle left in the middle of the second period with a lower-body injury and did not return. "I dont think its greatly serious, but I also think itd be a stretch to see him in the lineup next week," Yeo said. ... Anaheim has four consecutive one-goal victories in St. Paul. ... Wild D Matt Dumba, 19, made his NHL debut. ... The Ducks will complete their season-opening, three-game road trip on Sunday in Winnipeg. Minnesota will next travel to Nashville to face the Predators on Tuesday. ' ' '
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