Andrew Toles’ ninth-inning grand slam lets Dodgers split a doubleheader at Colorado

Reporting from DENVER —  After 12 hours at the ballpark, after one swing transformed a deflating doubleheader into a tolerable split, Andrew Toles fished his phone out of his locker. There were 35 messages awaiting him after his two-out, ninth-inning grand slam delivered the Dodgers a 10-8 victory in the nightcap against the Colorado Rockies.

“That’s not bad,” Toles said. “That’s a little low, huh?”

Little has fazed Toles in his rookie season, in which he has catalyzed the Dodgers from the bench and the starting lineup.

His home run Wednesday capped a six-run comeback and allowed the Dodgers to escape Coors Field with a 1½-game lead in the National League West.

Heading into the ninth, down by three runs, the Dodgers looked set to be swept. Earlier in the afternoon, the offense failed to materialize in a 7-0 defeat. In the evening, Bud Norris dumped the club in an early hole by giving up a grand slam in the first inning.

The scene looked pitiful for the Dodgers. They were stressed about the lack of offense. They were frustrated with the latest setback for Rich Hill, who saw a nettlesome blister return to his left middle finger, which led to his being scratched before the second game. For seven innings, the Dodgers shuffled through the motions, unable to find traction.

A three-run flurry in the eighth trimmed the deficit. Then Toles came to bat with the bases loaded in the ninth.

“Andrew,” Manager Dave Roberts said, “is a beautiful human.”

The Dodgers signed Toles to a minor league contract last October. He had been a first-round pick of Andrew Friedman when the Dodgers president of baseball operations was in Tampa Bay but crashed out of the Rays organization after 2014. He sat out last season.

Assigned to class-A Rancho Cucamonga to start the 2016 season, Toles raced through the minor league system. When spring training began, Roberts could not identify Toles. In October, Toles may play a crucial role for the Dodgers.

He stepped to the plate after a series of taxing at-bats against Rockies reliever Adam Ottavino. After a walk by Corey Seager and a single by Yasmani Grandal, Josh Reddick singled to drive in his first run as a Dodger.

“I would have much rather had an RBI earlier in the month,” Reddick said. “But it does feel good to get it out of the way, especially in that situation, to keep the inning going.”

Joc Pederson loaded the bases with a walk. Up came Toles. Ottavino snapped a first-pitch slider that looked outside but was ruled a strike. Some young hitters, Adrian Gonzalez explain later, get frustrated in that situation, with a strike foisted upon them by the umpire.

“He didn’t let that faze him,” Gonzalez said. “When [Ottavino] threw a fastball, he was ready.”

The 95-mph heater crossed the heart of the plate. Toles took it to the opposite field, his drive drifting toward the left-field fence. He hopped toward first base as he watched the ball travel. When it disappeared, he pounded his chest.

Inside the dugout, the Dodgers appeared euphoric. They formed a line to greet the four men who scored. Roberts clenched his fists and roared. Even Chase Utley smiled.

“The way that we kept playing says a lot about our guys,” Roberts said.

The mood was much different only two innings earlier. Ross Stripling was far from the problem in the afternoon. He completed six innings and held the Rockies to three runs. The performance met the minimum requirement for a quality start, an achievement that carries extra weight at Coors Field.

His teammates did little for him, going 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and stranding seven runners. The hitters looked less torpid in the second game but still trailed from the first inning until the last.

The Dodgers intended to start Hill on Tuesday. He threw 40 pitches in the bullpen to warm up before rain canceled the game and necessitated a Wednesday doubleheader. When Hill reported to work Wednesday, slated for the second game, his blister had reappeared.

Roberts expressed hope that Hill, who has pitched once for the Dodgers since being acquired Aug. 1 from the Oakland A’s, could take the mound this weekend. The blister has dogged him since the first week of July, and on Wednesday the team noticed “a little bit of heat and a little bit of tenderness,” Roberts said.

“It’s just more to err on the side of caution,” he said.

That meant Bud Norris took the baseball. Roberts expected a “bullpen game” and the prophecy fulfilled itself. Norris gave up six runs in three innings. Five were scored in the first, when rookie Stephen Cardullo hit a grand slam.

“We were somewhat mentally ready to go home on a sour note,” Gonzalez said. “But we knew that it was Coors Field, and anything can happen.”

But the Dodgers woke up in the eighth. Gonzalez and Grandal traded doubles. Pederson hit an RBI single. A sacrifice fly by Howie Kendrick cut the deficit to three.

Then came the ninth, which belonged to Toles, a shy rookie with a .397 batting average and a clubhouse full of admirers.

“He’s been a lot more than we expected,” Gonzalez said. “And it’s awesome.”

andy.mccullough@latimes.com

Twitter: @McCulloughTimes