Updated Sep 16, 2015 at 6:15a ET
LOS ANGELES —
In a game that set franchise records for both teams in terms of players and pitchers used, Nolan Arrenado came up with the biggest blow in a setting that was worthy of Edgar Allan Poe.
Arenado hit his NL-leading 39th home run in the 16th inning, and the Colorado Rockies capitalized on a throwing error by rookie shortstop Corey Seager to score three runs in the fourth en route to a 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night.
"You can probably only pull that off in September with the expanded rosters, to get through 16 innings like we did," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said of the rain-soaked affair. "That's probably been one of the craziest ones I've been a part of. I'm so proud of our guys for continuing to fight all the way."
The Rockies used 30 players, tying the major league record set by the Oakland A's on Sept. 19, 1972 in a 15-inning game. Thirteen of them were pitchers, two more than the previous big league mark.
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly scribbled the names of 28 players on his lineup card, including 11 pitchers. The 5-hour, 23-minute marathon also established records for combined players used (58) and pitchers (24).
Despite their fifth loss in 21 games, the Dodgers' magic number for clinching the NL West shrunk to 11 by virtue of San Francisco's 9-8 loss to Cincinnati.
Mat Latos (4-10) made his first career relief appearance, striking out Carlos Gonzalez before Arrenado drove the right-hander's next pitch into the pavilion seats just to the right of center field.
- Leading off: Ken Rosenthal
- Batting second: Jon Paul Morosi
- Batting third: Rob Neyer
- On the mound: C.J. Nitkowski
- Dig in: Just a Bit Outside
"He's a money player — a big-time player," Weiss said. "We've seen it for a couple of years now, and we've seen it big-time this year."
David Hale (4-5) pitched one inning for the victory and Gonzalez Germen, the Rockies' 13th pitcher of the game, got three outs for the save.
Justin Morneau raced all the way to third with his first triple of the season with one out in the 11th after center fielder Chris Heisey got turned around and leaped for the ball on the rain-slicked warning track before falling down. DJ LeMahieu then singled against former Rockies right-hander Juan Nicasio to drive in pinch-runner Ben Paulsen.
But Heisey drove in the tying run with an infield hit to third baseman Arenado, who charged the dribbler with the infield in and couldn't get a grip on the wet ball as rookie Scott Schebler raced home. Rockies closer John Axford was charged with his sixth blown save in 29 chances.
Colorado starter Chris Rusin was charged with three runs and five hits, departing in the seventh with a 3-1 lead, no outs and runners at first and second. The left-hander has only two victories in his previous 13 starts overall, both of them complete games at Coors Field.
"I can barely remember it," Rusin said of his outing. "Sixteen-inning games are always going to be strange. It was huge for the bullpen to come in and throw all those scoreless innings and close the game out."
Jimmy Rollins, who didn't start for the eighth straight game because of a hand injury, pinch-ran at first base after Rusin gave up a double to Adrian Gonzalez and a walk to A.J. Ellis. A walk to Seager loaded the bases before Heisey hit a sacrifice fly and pinch-hitter Austin Barnes tied it with a bloop single to left for his first major league RBI.
"I just made a couple of bad pitches to Ellis to walk him, then Turner squeaked one by the infield to score that first run. Other than that, I was a lot better than the last outing," Rusin said. "I was behind in the count, but I was able to make quality pitches to get back in the count."
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Dodgers lefty Brett Anderson was charged with three runs – two earned – and seven hits in seven innings without walking a batter. He struck out seven, including Gonzalez all three times he faced him. Anderson's first two pitches of the game resulted in bunt singles by Charlie Blackmon and Jose Reyes.
The Rockies grabbed a 3-1 lead in the fourth, parlaying three consecutive singles and Seager's throwing error at shortstop into three runs. Seager, who came in batting .432 since his promotion on Sept. 3, was making his eighth straight start at short in place of Rollins, a four-time Gold Glove winner.
UP NEXT
Rockies: LHP Jorge De La Rosa (9-6) is 2-0 with a 4.15 ERA in three starts against the Dodgers this season.
Dodgers: LHP Alex Wood (10-10) is 3-4 with a 4.53 ERA in eight starts since he was acquired from the Braves on July 30 in a three-team trade with Miami that involved 12 players. The last time he faced the Rockies on July 12, he gave up seven runs and 10 hits over 5 2-3 innings in an 11-3 loss at Coors Field.
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