Lilly bests Jimenez in LA's 3-1 win over Rockies

DENVER – Ted Lilly scattered four hits over eight innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers prevented Ubaldo Jimenez from getting his 20th win with a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Monday night.

Casey Blake went 3 for 4 with two doubles, two RBIs and scored Los Angeles' other run as the Dodgers put the Rockies on the brink of elimination.

The reeling Rockies are five games behind idle San Francisco in the NL West and 4½ games behind wild card-leading Atlanta with just six games remaining. The Rockies have lost seven of eight since pulling within a game of the divisional lead on Sept. 18.

Jimenez (19-8) has one more start, at St. Louis next weekend, to try to become the franchise's first 20-game winner. When he went 15-1 in the first half of the season and earned the starting job for the National League in the All-Star game, it seemed unfathomable that Jimenez wouldn't reach 20 wins.

He's been victimized by poor run support, shoddy defense and his own control issues over the season's second half. And Monday night was another one in which Jimenez got very little support despite a stellar effort — he gave up just three hits over seven innings with four walks and six strikeouts.

Aside from giving up Carlos Gonzalez's 34th homer, Lilly (9-12) was dominant. He had the Rockies either chasing his offspeed pitches or frozen by his deceptive fastballs. He walked two and of his eight strikeouts, five were called.

Hong-Chih Kuo pitched a perfect ninth for his 11th save in 12 chances.

The Dodgers loaded the bases in the first on a bloop leadoff single by Rafael Furcal and two four-pitch walks. With two outs, Blake's comebacker struck Jimenez on his right foot and ricocheted over shortstop Troy Tulowitzki's head and into left field, allowing two runs to score.

The Dodgers added a run in the ninth when A.J. Ellis' line drive went off second baseman Clint Barmes' glove for an RBI single, scoring Blake from third. He had led off with his second double of the night and advanced on a sacrifice bunt.

Lilly didn't give up a hit until Gonzalez deposited his knee-high fastball in the center field rock pile for his 34th homer and 115th RBI — numbers all the more impressive considering he batted leadoff for 44 games at the start of the season.

The Rockies put runners at second and third with two outs in the fifth but Lilly got Eric Young Jr. to ground out to shortstop.

Notes: Jimenez finished 8-2 at Coors Field this season and the Rockies were 11-3 in his home starts. ... Dodgers OF Jay Gibbons sat out with a sore calf. ... Rockies backup 1B Jason Giambi is expected to miss the final week of the season after straining his left biceps tendon swinging Sunday. ... Colorado was without 3B Ian Stewart, who stayed home ill with flulike symptoms. ... Chris Iannetta started behind the plate for Colorado a day after Miguel Olivo was kicked in the head by Tulowitzki as they converged on a foul pop-up.