A Run-Run-Run-Runaway

By JASON REID

July 22, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

DENVER — Some might have suggested the Dodgers temper their enthusiasm Saturday after a record-setting 22-7 victory against the Colorado Rockies before 43,011 at Coors Field.

The Rockies are last in the National League in pitching, have dropped 24 of 29, plan to dump top players before the trading deadline and, well, it is Coors Field.

None of that mattered to the Dodgers, because games here still count and they had one of their best in franchise history.

“I’ve said all along I felt like we’re a very capable offensive club,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “And when several of them get going at the same time, they’re very capable players.”

They definitely were Saturday.

The Dodgers established a Los Angeles scoring mark while pounding 23 hits against five Colorado pitchers--one hit fewer than the L.A. record set in 1974 against the Chicago Cubs.

They surpassed the previous record of 19 runs, which has been accomplished three times and last on April 17, 1994, against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium.

The Brooklyn club twice scored 25 runs--once in 1896 and 1901.

In the eighth inning Saturday, the Dodgers sent 13 batters to the plate and had eight hits while scoring a season-high nine runs and turning a 12-7 game into a 21-7 rout.

The list of Dodgers with highlight-reel performances included:

* Gary Sheffield. He doubled, hit career home runs Nos. 300 and 301, 22 for the season, had four runs batted in and scored four runs.

* Shawn Green. He also had three hits, including his team-leading 24th homer, matching last season’s total, and three runs.

* Paul Lo Duca. The sparkplug’s three-run homer, No. 16, was the biggest blow in the eighth.

* McKay Christensen. The new center fielder had three hits and four RBIs in his first game subbing for the injured Tom Goodwin and suspended Marquis Grissom.

* Adrian Beltre. He had four hits, three RBIs and three runs.

“When we stay healthy, we can play,” Lo Duca said. “You look at our lineup, we’ve got a good lineup, our guys just haven’t been healthy at the same time.

“You look at what we did today, you see what we’re capable of doing and producing. We just happened to swing the bats well and everything we hit fell right in.”

Christensen opened in center and batted eighth after being promoted Friday from triple-A Las Vegas because Goodwin is on the 15-day disabled list.

Nice start.

“I was totally enthused by what happened,” the former Angel No. 1 draft pick said. “Obviously, getting off to a good start makes things easier as you go along.”

With their seventh victory in eight games, the Dodgers (55-43) remained 1 1/2 games behind the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West.

Eric Gagne (3-4) won his second consecutive start despite giving up five runs in the second inning after the Dodgers staked him to a 5-0 lead in the first.

The right-hander gave up nine hits--including two homers--and seven runs in a six-inning outing that was better than it appeared, Tracy said.

“From a pitching standpoint, Eric Gagne did a nice job,” he said. “He had a bad second inning, and the next thing you know it’s 5-5.

“But he didn’t waver. He stayed aggressive and kept going after hitters. That, to me, is the big difference that you see in Eric Gagne that you weren’t seeing earlier.”

Said Gagne: “It helps when you get all kind of runs like that. Especially in Colorado.”

The Dodgers had the most runs and hits against the last-place Rockies this season.

Starter Denny Neagle (6-4) lost for the first time in 11 starts at Coors Field.

The left-hander gave up 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings and was charged with nine runs. But even that didn’t compare to the carnage given up by the Colorado bullpen.

So ineffective pitching was the key for the Dodgers, right?

“Nah,” said Sheffield, who had the 23rd multi-homer game of his career and fourth in 2001. “These guys play here [all season], and nobody says anything when they win MVP [awards].

“Everybody knows the ball carries a lot here. But you have to hit the ball, which is still the hardest thing to do in the world.”

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Big Day

* The 22 runs were the most scored by the Dodgers since Brooklyn beat Pittsburgh, 23-6, on July 10, 1943, at Ebbets Field. Their previous high since moving to Los Angeles in 1958 was 19, set three times.

* Gary Sheffield hit his 300th and 301st career home runs. It was the 23rd multi-homer game of Sheffield’s career and his fourth this season.

* McKay Christensen, who started in center field, singled in the first inning for his first National League hit. He was three for four with four RBIs.

PILING ON

Most runs scored in a game by the Los Angeles Dodgers:

*--*

Runs Opponent Date 22 Colorado July 21, 2001 19 San Diego June 28, 1969 19 San Francisco May 26, 1970 19 Pittsburgh April 17, 1994

*--*

Note: Brooklyn Dodger record was 25 runs (in 1896 and 1901)

ROSS NEWHAN

Bust: No team has been a bigger disappointment than the Rockies, who make changes and remain the same. D6

Grooming process: Jeff Shaw might not be Dodger closer next year, so he’s preparing Matt Herges for the job. D7

Dodger Averages D9

ANGELS 6, BALTIMORE 5

Don’t blow it: After Troy Percival let a three-run lead get away in the ninth, Bengie Molina’s single won it. D7