"When Don Mattingly sent Matt Kemp to pinch-hit in the ninth inning Friday night, he wasn't thinking as much about the outcome of the game as he was of the center fielder's consecutive-games streak.

"I knew it was important to him," Mattingly said.

But Kemp, who was a last-minute scratch from the lineup because of a tight left hamstring, soon shifted the focus from his streak of 269 consecutive games played - tops among active major league players - to whether the Dodgers could win a game they trailed by six runs. By launching a fastball from Matt Belisle over the 23 rows of seats behind the left-field wall at Coors Field, Kemp ignited a five-run charge that left the Dodgers oh-so-close away from overtaking the Colorado Rockies, who held on for a 6-5 victory.

Kemp's home run was his 19th, the most in the National League.

Asked whether he would be ready to play Saturday, Kemp replied, "We'll see. I hope so."

Kemp said he was hurt Thursday night, when he fell a single short of the cycle.

Pulling into second base on seventh-inning double, Kemp said felt something in his hamstring.

"I've never had any hamstring injuries," Kemp said, "so I knew it wasn't normal.""