Jonathan Herrera, starting in place of Troy Tulowitzki (leg), doubled in the bottom half and advanced on a groundout before Rutledge who singled in his other three at-bats grounded out to short.
At a fertilizer plant near Chengdu, a team looking for what may be 200 quake victims found a survivor: Liu Deyun, 50, who had been trapped on the bottom floor of the factory, his arm and leg pinned by rubble.
Having escaped the penalty scare, Flamurtari set about gaining an advantage to take into the second leg and were rewarded when Strati's half-volley from 20 yards found the bottom-left corner of the net.