Kemp, Dodgers slam Rockies 14-2

[April 20, 2009]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Matt Kemp hit a grand slam and a solo homer to help the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies 14-2 on Sunday for their eighth straight win.

Andre Ethier and Orlando Hudson each drove in three runs for Los Angeles, which has won its first six home games for the first time since the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers started out 8-0 at Ebbets Field in Jackie Robinson's rookie year.

The defending NL West champions are 29-9 at Chavez Ravine since last year's All-Star break, the best record in the majors during that stretch. During this homestand they outscored their opponents 50-17, recording 77 hits, 11 home runs and 31 walks while batting a collective .367.

James McDonald managed to work out of trouble repeatedly while throwing 4 1-3 scoreless innings for the Dodgers. He escaped a bases-loaded jam in the second when he retired rookie Dexter Fowler on a flyball to right field.

Manager Joe Torre hoped to get five innings out of the 24-year-old right-hander in his second big league start, but had to pull him with a 4-0 lead after he walked two batters in the fifth.

Scott Elbert (1-0), recalled from Double-A Chattanooga on Saturday when Cory Wade went on the DL, was summoned to face 2000 NL batting champ Todd Helton and retired him on a foul pop. Cleanup hitter Garrett Atkins followed with a drive that Kemp hauled in with a leaping catch a few feet from the center-field fence.

Elbert contributed an RBI double during a seven-run fifth that gave the Dodgers an 11-0 cushion. Ubaldo Jimenez was removed with one out and the bases loaded before Kemp greeted struggling Matt Belisle with his second career grand slam and first since April 26, 2008 -- also against the Rockies. Hudson and Ethier capped the Dodgers' most productive inning of the season with run-scoring singles.

Elbert allowed two runs and three hits in 2 2-3 innings, including seventh-inning homers by Brad Hawpe and Chris Iannetta.

Jimenez (1-2) was charged with seven runs and seven hits. The right-hander was 4-0 with a 5.51 ERA in six previous career starts against the Dodgers, including a 9-0 victory last July 22, when he earned his first complete game in the majors with a four-hitter.

The Dodgers, who finished with 19 hits, grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first on RBI doubles by Hudson and Ethier. Jimenez escaped a bases-loaded jam later that inning when he slipped a called third strike past Kemp, who struck out a franchise-record 153 times last season.

Hudson made it 3-0 in the second with an RBI single. Kemp, who was left standing at home plate when Russell Martin was caught stealing in a rundown to end the third, led off the fourth with a double and scored on Rafael Furcal's double.

Kemp's three hits extended his season-opening hit streak to 13 games.

Notes: The Rockies played the second-most day games last season behind the Chicago Cubs, and were 17-30 -- the worst percentage in franchise history in that department. They've already played eight times under the sun this season (3-5). ... Belisle has been charged with seven runs and seven hits in one-third of an inning over his last two appearances. ... Wade was scheduled to undergo an MRI on Monday to take a closer look at the bursitis in his shoulder that sent him to the DL, but the Dodgers scrapped that idea Sunday and are sending him to their Glendale, Ariz. training facility. "He got a (cortisone) shot, and it started to get significant reaction," Torre said. "He seems to be getting better, so the MRI doctor (Neal ElAttrache) didn't feel it was necessary. So Cory's going back there to rehab and do simulated games when the time comes." ... The Dodgers' franchise record for longest home winning streak to start a season is nine set in 1946.

[Associated Press]

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