Rockies extend NL West advantage

DENVER — Kyle Freeland pitched six strong innings, Wade Davis worked out of a ninthinning jam and the Rockies beat the Dodgers 4-2 on Saturday night to remain atop the NL West.

Chris Iannetta and Charlie Blackmon homered. Davis allowed a run before striking out Yasmani Grandal with a man aboard to finish his 39th save. The Rockies moved 1 ⁄ games

2 ahead the second-place Dodgers. The Rockies are alone in first place after August for the first time since 1995 and have never won a division title.

Chris Taylor homered for the Dodgers, who made it interesting in the ninth. Max Muncy delivered an RBI double with two outs before Davis struck out Grandal looking.

Freeland (14-7) lowered his ERA to 2.91 with another strong outing. He allowed one run on four hits and struck out eight for his seventh consecutive quality start and 20th of the season.

With three weeks left, he has a chance to record the best ERA ever by a Rockies starter. Ubaldo Jimenez’s 2.88 in 2010 is the lowest in franchise history.

Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado understood why he wasn’t in the starting lineup, but he wasn’t happy with sitting. The All-Star and five-time Gold Glove Award winner is 5-for-39 in his last 10 games, which has dropped his average below .300. He hasn’t homered since Aug. 24 and has gone deep only three times since the end of July.

Despite the prolonged power outage, he wanted to play.

“I don’t make those calls,” he said. “I don’t want it, but there’s no beating around it, I’m not playing well. That’s why I’m not playing today.”

Arenado has been battling a sore right shoulder.