Dodgers improve to 11-0 at home, beat Arizona 7-2

[May 05, 2009]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Los Angeles Dodgers became the first National League team since 1900 to win their first 11 home games, overcoming an Arizona triple play to beat the Diamondbacks 7-2 Monday night with a homer and three RBIs from Manny Ramirez.

The defending NL West champions broke the previous league record for longest home winning streak to start a season, set by the 1918 New York Giants and equaled by the 1970 Chicago Cubs and 1983 Atlanta Braves -- who were managed by current Dodgers skipper Joe Torre.

The major league mark is 12, set in 1911 by the Detroit Tigers. The Dodgers are the first team to start a season 11-0 at home since the 2003 Kansas City Royals.

The Dodgers are a big league-best 19-8 overall, their best start since Tommy Lasorda's 1983 club opened 20-7.

Eric Stults (3-1) allowed two runs and five hits over 5 2-3 innings and struck out four, after lasting only 2 2-3 innings Wednesday at San Francisco and giving up five runs on seven hits.

Arizona shortstop Josh Wilson, making his third start this season in place of injured Stephen Drew, bobbled Matt Kemp's routine grounder for an error in his haste to start a double play in the second inning. But he made up for the mistake moments later, making a lunging catch of Casey Blake's line drive in the hole with the runners going and turning it into the second triple play in Diamondbacks history.

Arizona starter Doug Davis (2-4) must have appreciated the defensive help, but it wasn't enough for the left-hander, whose teammates have scored fewer than three runs in five of his six starts this season.

Davis was charged with four runs, five hits and four walks over 4 1-3 innings after pitching seven sharp innings last Wednesday in a 10-0 win over the Cubs. In his last three starts at Chavez Ravine -- all losses -- he has allowed 13 earned runs over 10 2-3 innings.

First-inning homers by Ramirez and Andre Ethier -- on consecutive pitches -- were the sixth of the season for both. Ramirez's 533rd home run put him within one of Jimmie Foxx for 16th place on the career list and just three behind Mickey Mantle.

Stults and Ramirez hit sacrifice flies in the fifth, increasing the Dodgers' lead to 4-1. Ramirez added an RBI double in the eighth.

Notes: Among the pitchers the Dodgers have faced at Chavez Ravine during this record-setting streak have been former Cy Young Award winners Randy Johnson, Barry Zito and Jake Peavy. ... The Diamondbacks' only other triple play was on May 31, 2000, against St. Louis. It was the first time the Dodgers hit into one since Aug. 4, 1991, at Houston. ... Davis had made 69 starts since his last complete game on Sept. 5, 2006, at Milwaukee, when he four-hit the Dodgers and retired his final 16 batters in a 9-0 victory for the Brewers. Stults made his big league debut in that game as a reliever. ... The Diamondbacks lost their sixth straight game at Dodger Stadium, including Stults' 11-2 victory on April 11.

[Associated Press]

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