Dodgers visit Colorado in early showdown

The high flying Dodgers, winners of five in a row and nine out of the last 11 games, start a four-game set with the Rockies tonight, trying to eclipse a 1.5-game deficit in the NL West standings.

The Rockies have been led by a hot-hitting Mark Reynolds, who leads the team with a .336 batting average, 12 homers and 30 RBI. Charlie Blackmon (.301), Nolan Arenado (.295) and Ian Desmond (.293) have also sparked the offense in Denver, Desmond is just coming off the DL.

On the mound, the Rocks have been paced by rookie Antonio Senzatela, who has posted a 5-1 record and 2.86 ERA in his major league debut season. Colorado took two of three from the Cubs at Wrigley and figure to give the Dodgers a run for their money in the division.

Los Angeles is getting strong mound work from the likes of Clayton Kershaw (5-2, 2.40 ERA), Alex Wood (3-0, 2.73 ERA), Brandon McCarthy (3-0, 3.10 ERA), Kenta Maeda (3-2, 5.03) and Julio Urias (0-0, 1.06 ERA). Rich Hill is set to come off the DL and Hyun Jin-Ryu (1-4, 4.05 ERA) looks to be finding his groove.

Ryu went 5.1 innings against the Phillies on April 30, giving up just three hits and striking out nine. Maeda, who was in danger of losing his spot in the rotation, stayed in the mix last night with a five-hit performance over 8.1 innings.

Urias took a no-hitter into the sixth inning on Tuesday and figures to be one of the mainstays in the rotation.

Dodger pitchers lead the major leagues with a 3.20 ERA and 331 strikeouts.

With the bats, L.A. is getting offense from Justin Turner (.365), Cody Bellinger (.315), Corey Seager (.285) and Yasiel Puig (.252).  Bellinger and Puig lead the team with six homers apiece and Puig leads in RBI with 19.

Adrian Gonzalez and Logan Forsythe were joined on the DL by Andrew Toles, who is out for the season with an ACL.