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GAME LOG
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Luke Prokopec still has Olympic fever. Only now he's learned how to channel it in a different direction.
|  | | Luke Prokopec's decision to pitch for the Dodgers and not in the Olympics paid off Sunday -- he scored his first major league victory Sunday against Colorado. |
Prokopec, an Olympic hopeful whose promotion to the Dodgers kept him from pitching for Australia in Sydney, got his first major
league victory Sunday as Los Angeles beat the Colorado Rockies
12-6.
"I know all the guys on the team were following the game on the
Internet," said the 22-year-old right-hander, who spent Friday
night watching a delayed broadcast of the opening ceremonies on
television with friends at a party in Beverly Hills.
"I wanted to pitch this game for the boys back in Sydney at the
Olympics. I'm kind of disappointed I'm not there with them, but at
least I gave them a thrill back there."
Prokopec was the No. 1 starter for Australia, and would have
pitched its opener instead of Montreal minor leaguer Shayne
Bennett, who lost 6-4 to the Netherlands. But the Dodgers called
him up from Double-A San Antonio on Sept. 1.
Choosing Dodger Stadium over the world's greatest athletic stage
was the toughest choice of his young life. But Prokopec didn't want
to squander an opportunity to realize his ultimate goal.
"I've been working too many years to get to the big leagues --
something I've wanted to do since I was a kid," he said. "And to
finally get my first win only a couple of games after I came up
here, that's a dream come true for me. This is what everyone
strives for. I'm loving every single bit of it."
Prokopec (1-0) allowed two runs and five hits in six innings,
struck out three and walked two. He made his major league debut
Sept. 4 with three scoreless innings of relief, then started last
Tuesday in Arizona for the injured Carlos Perez. He didn't get a
decision in that one, allowing one earned run in 4 1/3 innings.
"This is a chance for me to shine and show people that I've got
the goods," Prokopec said. "I finished off the season pretty good
in San Antonio, and now I'm trying to work toward winning a job
next spring training. I sure as heck don't want to go back to minor
league camp next year, that's for sure."
Adrian Beltre drove in three runs with two homers, and Chris
Donnels and Alex Cora also homered, accounting for the first seven
Los Angeles runs. Chad Kreuter added a three-run homer for the
Dodgers, who are five home runs shy of the franchise record set in
1953.
Beltre's two-run shot in the second inning and Donnels'
three-run homer in the third sent the struggling Masato Yoshii
(6-15) to his earliest exit of the season. The right-hander, who
left after five innings in his previous start because of biceps
soreness, was charged with five runs and five hits in 2 2/3
innings.
"He warmed up pretty good and his stuff seemed like it was
about normal," pitching coach Marcel Lachemann said. "But then he
got into the game and he just didn't locate the ball.
"Sometimes, that's an indicator that there's some discomfort,
and you're trying to do things a little differently. So, we'll have
to look into it. There's probably a good chance he'll have to shut
it down," Lachemann said.
Todd Helton, who went 1-for-2 with a walk and is hitting .376,
had a sacrifice fly in the fourth -- the only run Colorado managed
in the inning after loading the bases with no outs. Cora homered
off Giovanni Carrara in the bottom half, his fourth in 383 career
at-bats -- and third against the Rockies.
Butch Huskey homered in the fifth for Colorado's second run. But Beltre responded with his 20th of the season leading off the sixth
against John Wasdin, and Mark Grudzielanek added a two-run double
later in the inning for a 9-2 lead. It was the first two-homer game
of Beltre's career.
Colorado scored four in the seventh against Jeff Williams on
Brent Mayne's sacrifice fly, pinch-hitter Adam Melhuse's two-run
triple that right fielder Shawn Green lost in the sun, and Juan
Pierre's RBI groundout.
Kreuter hit a three-run homer off Craig House in the eighth.
Game notes
Green was bruised above his right elbow when he was hit by
a pitch from Wasdin in the sixth inning. ... Cora went 42 games
without a home run since connecting off Carrara and Kevin Jarvis on
July 27 at Coors Field. ... Yoshii is 2-8 with a 6.75 ERA in 14
starts since June 29. ... The Dodgers need to average 37,677 in
their final nine home games to reach the 3-million mark for a
record 15th time. They are averaging 36,957 and haven't fallen
short of 3 million in a full season since 1992. ... Gary Sheffield
missed his second straight game because of stiffness in his lower
back.
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