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          Dodgers Report

          Rapid Reaction: Dodgers 9, Rockies 8

          • Mark Saxon, ESPN Staff WriterJun 3, 2015, 03:42 AM
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              Mark Saxon covers the St. Louis Cardinals for ESPN.com. He served as the Dodgers team reporter for ESPNLosAngeles.com. through the 2015 season. He spent six years at the Orange County Register, and began his career at the Oakland Tribune, where he started an 11-year journey covering Major League Baseball. He has also covered colleges, including USC football and UCLA basketball.
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          DENVER -- The Los Angeles Dodgers' biggest problem Tuesday was that Joc Pederson's tape-measure blasts only counted the same as the type that scrape the top of the wall. Then Alex Guerrero hit the other kind to win a game.

          With the Dodgers down to their last strike, Guerrero hit a grand slam off Rafael Betancourt that narrowly eluded a jumping attempt by Colorado Rockies center fielder Charlie Blackmon in the ninth inning. Just like that, the Dodgers avoided a doubleheader sweep with the 9-8 win in Game 2 on Tuesday night. It was one of those wild Coors Field games. It ended with the tying run at third base when Kenley Jansen, making his first appearance in a week, struck out Ben Paulsen.

          The Rockies had capped their comeback from a 4-0 hole in the seventh inning, when Troy Tulowitzki homered with a man on off rookie reliever Yimi Garcia. After a brilliant start to his rookie season, Garcia has given up four home runs in his past 10 appearances.

          How it happened: Pederson hit the longest home run of this major league season, according to tracking by ESPN Stats & Information, a blast of 480 feet to center field in the third inning. The ball landed more than 15 rows up, just to the left of a grove of evergreen trees near the 415-foot sign. Pederson has homered in four straight games and has 16 for the season. The rookie hit a blast nearly as far in the first game of the doubleheader, a second-deck shot to right field. Enrique Hernandez and Adrian Gonzalez also went deep for the Dodgers in the early innings, but they largely stopped scoring after that and Colorado just chipped away against Zack Greinke. It's hard to win at Coors Field if you stop scoring.

          Greinke's streak of quality starts to open the season ended at 10, as Colorado scored five runs in six innings against him. The rally that cost him most dearly came from the bottom of Colorado's lineup. Catcher Nick Hundley smacked a double off the right-field wall to drive in one run and Brandon Barnes lined a single to right to drive in Hundley.

          What it means: The Dodgers continue to hit home runs at an astonishing rate. They hit four more Tuesday night and lead the major leagues with 72.

          Notable: The 10 hits Greinke allowed were a season high and the two strikeouts were a season low. ... Pederson also has played superb defense much of the season. He got a good break and ran down Charlie Blackmon's hard-hit fly ball to the warning track in the third inning. ... Before the game, the Dodgers designated left-hander David Huff for assignment, optioned catcher Austin Barnes and called up a couple of bullpen arms, Daniel Coulombe and Josh Ravin. Huff cleared waivers and landed at Triple-A earlier this season. ... Jimmy Rollins is gradually warming up. He has reached basely in 15 of his past 21 games and is batting .284 in that span. Rollins singled, walked, stole a base and scored the tying run in the seventh inning. ... Ravin made his major league debut in the eighth inning and struck out DJ LeMahieu with a 99-mph fastball.

          Up next: The teams wrap up the four-game series Wednesday at 5:10 p.m. PT, with Mike Bolsinger (3-1, 1.15 ERA) going for the Dodgers and Chad Bettis (2-0, 2.96 ERA) pitching for Colorado.