Rockies hand tough blow to Dodgers

LOS ANGELES - Rookie Denny Stark outpitched Odalis Perez and the Colorado Rockies handed the Los Angeles Dodgers another damaging defeat in their wild-card chase, 1-0 Tuesday night. <br> <br> The World Series champion Arizona Diamondbacks clinched a playoff spot with Los Angeles&#39; loss. <br> <br> The Dodgers were held to just three hits in losing their third in a row and 10th in 17 games. They dropped three games behind San Francisco, which beat San Diego 12-3, and have only five games left to overcome their deficit in the wild-card race. <br> <br> Todd Zeile hit an RBI single in the first as Colorado won its fourth in a row. The Rockies swept the Arizona Diamondbacks in a three-game weekend series. <br> <br> Stark (11-3) continued his mastery of the Dodgers, improving to 2-0 in four games against them. He gave up one hit - a single by Brian Jordan in the first - in seven innings. <br> <br> Stark struck out one and walked three. Twice, he retired seven batters in a row and threw just 93 pitches before leaving. <br> <br> Rockies reliever Todd Jones gave up a two-out triple to Marquis Grissom in the eighth, but struck out Paul Lo Duca. <br> <br> Jose Jimenez pitched the ninth for his 41st save. Eric Karros doubled with two outs before Adrian Beltre struck out to end it. <br> <br> Todd Zeile, an ex-Dodger, singled with two outs in the first inning to drive in Colorado&#39;s run. Gabe Kapler led off with a single and stole second. <br> <br> Perez (15-10) allowed one run on five hits in eight innings, struck out eight and walked none. The left-hander retired nine consecutive batters at one point. <br> <br> Perez had been tough against the Rockies with a 3-0 record including a one-hit shutout coming in, but he got no run support. <br> <br> NOTES: Stark&#39;s 11 victories are the most by a Colorado rookie since Armando Reynoso won 12 in 1993. ... Dodgers fans seemingly have lost interest. The announced crowd of 30,332 appeared considerably smaller. ... Karros went 1-for-4 and needs four extra-base hits to surpass Willie Davis&#39; club record of 585. ... After Wednesday&#39;s game, Colorado heads to Arizona to close out the season on the road for the third consecutive season.

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