Rockies lose to Dodgers 7-6 after late rally

A frustrating finish following a furious comeback.

The Rockies nearly rallied from a seven-run deficit before losing 7-6 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night.

Colorado had the tying run on third with Gonzalez up, but the team's hottest hitter hacked at three sliders from closer Javy Guerra — all out of the strike zone — to go down swinging.

"It's hard to come back from seven runs," Gonzalez said. "We're always pushing and trying to make it happen. But it's not going to happen every single night."

On a night when starter Jhoulys Chacin (0-3) was hit hard, this game appeared to be over early. The Dodgers were up 7-0 after five innings and starter Ted Lilly (3-0) was cruising along.

Then, Colorado stormed back. Gonzalez kicked off the comeback with a two-run homer off Lilly in the sixth.

Later, Chris Nelson added an RBI double and pinch-hitter Tyler Colvin hit a two-run homer. Just like that, it was 7-5 heading into the eighth.

After Troy Tulowitzki led off that inning with a triple, Todd Helton sent a deep fly to left, which looked as though it had a chance to sneak out of the park, only to have Tony Gwynn Jr. haul it in at the warning track.

"I knew it wasn't (out)," said Helton, whose sacrifice fly made it 7-6. "Bad swing. Nothing behind it."

The Rockies had the potential tying run on second with one out in the ninth when Marco Scutaro sent a ball up the middle.

There it was — tie game. Or so Scutaro thought.

However, Mark Ellis was shaded up the middle and swooped over, throwing to first base to beat a sliding Scutaro.

"When I hit it up the middle, I thought it was going through," Scutaro said. "For some reason, it stopped."

Still, the Rockies had one last chance with Gonzalez at the plate, but he couldn't come through.

In hindsight, Gonzalez wishes he would've been more selective at the plate and held back on chasing after those sliders. That way, Tulowitzki would have gotten an opportunity.

"He pitched around me and got me out," Gonzalez said.

It was simply that kind of night.