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DENVER -- This isnt out of left field -- the Los Angeles Dodgers are struggling against southpaws this season.Latest to stymie them: Tyler Anderson.The Dodgers had little success against the Colorado Rockies left-hander in a 7-0 loss during the opener of a doubleheader Wednesday.Not all that surprising, considering Los Angeles is hitting under .220 when facing a lefty. The team squandered a solid outing from Ross Stripling (3-6), who surrendered three runs over six innings.Ross pitched well enough for us to win and you know left-handed pitching has been our Achilles heel, said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, whose team was held to six hits and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.Teams going forward are going to run left-handers against us. So weve got to find a way to get guys on base and get them in.Anderson (5-5) allowed six hits in 6 1/3 innings against the NL West leaders. He also helped his own cause with an RBI single in the second in the teams first shutout at Coors Field this season.It was nice, Anderson said. Tiring, but it was good.The doubleheader was necessitated by a rainout Tuesday. Anderson actually tossed a few warmup pitches before the first inning and then a relentless downpour blanketed the area, leading to a postponement after a delay of 2 hours, 32 minutes.Colorado has taken the first two games in the series from the Dodgers. This is the fifth series the Rockies have captured from a first-place team in August. Theyre the only team in the majors with a positive run differential (plus-26) and a losing mark (64-68).Pinch-hitter Stephen Cardullo hit his first career homer in the seventh -- on his birthday, no less. The 29-year-old Cardullo spent the last few seasons playing for an independent team in New York before signing a minor league contract with Colorado in January. He joined the Rockies last week after hitting .308 with 17 homers for Triple-A Albuquerque.Andersons quirky delivery gave the Dodgers fits all afternoon. He briefly pauses before throwing to the plate.The 2011 first-round pick wiggled his way out of a sticky situation in the sixth when the lefty had runners on first and third and one out. He struck out Adrian Gonzalez -- the top daytime hitter in the majors this season -- and then fanned Rob Segedin with a changeup.Anderson trotted back out for the seventh, and left to an ovation with one out and two on. Chris Rusin bailed him out by striking out pinch hitter Yasmani Grandal and Howie Kendrick.We are going out of the strike zone and there are some counts where guys are swinging at a ball out of the zone, Roberts said. That changes the sequence in the at-bat.TRAINERS ROOMDodgers: LHP Clayton Kershaw (mild disk irritation) had a successful outing in a simulated game Tuesday and now is in a momentary holding pattern. We havent made the decision as far as what his next progression will be, Roberts said. ... LHP Scott Kazmir (neck stiffness) will be slotted into the rotation when hes eligible to come off the DL on Sept. 7.EXPANDED ROSTERSRoberts gave an early glimpse of his plans for September call-ups. The Dodgers will add catcher Austin Barnes, righty Louis Coleman, lefty Luis Avilan -- who will serve as the 26th man Wednesday for the second game -- and righty Josh Ravin. Missing from that list is outfielder Yasiel Puig, who was demoted to the minors in early August.With Yasiel, thats still a possibility, but were trying to figure out whats best for him and whats best for us, Roberts said.UP NEXTThe Dodgers scratched lefty Rich Hill (10-3) from the start in Game 2, going with righty Bud Norris instead. The team was concerned about a blister on his left middle finger. Colorado went with righty Jeff Hoffman (0-2). 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FORT WORTH, Texas -- Graham Rahal lifted his arm over his head just as he reached the finish line at Texas Motor Speedway, then glanced to his right to make sure he had won the race.After a last-lap pass of James Hinchcliffe, Rahal did indeed hold on to win Saturday night in the closest finish ever for an IndyCar race at the high-banked, 1?-mile oval.When I got to the stripe, I started to raise my arm, and then I was like, make sure, said Rahal, who glanced to see the No. 2 on the LED panel of Hinchcliffes car signifying his place in the race. I thought I was clear. I knew it was going to be very close.The only time Rahal led the race -- competed over a 2?-month span -- was when he sliced to the bottom of the track coming off of the backstretch on that final lap. He won by eight-thousandths (0.008) of a second, crossing the line only inches ahead and side-by-side with Hinchcliffe, with Tony Kanaan right behind them.When we cleared Tony and it was just me and Graham coming down to the checkered, I thought the momentum is on the outside. I feel like Ive kind of seen it here 10 times before in races in years past, and I thought we were still going to be able to do it, Hinchcliffe said. But man, he rolled through the center of 3 and 4 with a whole lot of speed. He cleared me -- I hadnt been next to a car all night that cleared me that quickly.Hinchcliffe had led the Firestone 600 for 76 days. He was leading when the race was initially red-flagged June 12 because of rain after only 71 of 248 laps, and dominated Saturday after it resumed until three late restarts.Rahals fourth career win came at the same oval where four years ago he appeared headed for victory before brushing the wall on the last lap and finishing second to Justin Wilson.Hinchcliffe led 188 laps overall in the race, including 1557 of the 177 laps run Saturday night.ddddddddddddMy night was great until about eight minutes to go, he said after what was still his best finish of the season.Series points leader Simon Pagenaud was fourth, and he extended his lead from 20 to 28 points over Team Penske teammate Will Power with two races left. Power, who won four of the previous six races with runner-up finishes in the other two, was eighth at Texas.Ed Carpenter twice had contact with other cars while running second behind Hinchcliffe in the later laps.Carpenter was within about two seconds of the lead on Lap 213 when Scott Dixon, trying to get back on the lead lap, made contact coming off the frontstretch. That sent Dixon spinning, and Carpenter believes he might have cut a tire, though he was able to stay on the track and even took the lead after that.After the ensuing caution, Hinchcliffe and Carpenter restarted 1-2 on Lap 221, and Carpenter went low coming off the backstretch and led at the line by a matter of inches. Hinchcliffe went back in front on the next lap, and he was still there when Carpenter got loose coming out of Turn 4 on Lap 225 and made contact with Helio Castroneves and slammed into the wall to end his race.There was one more caution after that, when lead-lap car Mikhail Aleshin crashed, setting up the final sprint to the finish.It was the fifth-closest finish in IndyCar Series history and the closest of any race ever at the Texas track that has hosted NASCAR and IndyCar races since 1997. At one point, the top four finishers were running side-by-side on the backstretch.If people dont love that type of racing, they dont love racing, Rahal said. That was as good as it gets. ' ' '