[August 03, 2013]CHICAGO
(AP) -- No matter where they're playing, the Los Angeles Dodgers keep racking up wins. And the latest tied a franchise record that stood for nearly nine decades.
The Dodgers matched an 89-year-old club mark with their 12th straight road win, beating the Chicago Cubs 6-2 Friday in a game that saw Mark Ellis extend his hitting streak to 13 before both he and manager Don Mattingly were ejected.
"Good teams to me win on the road," Mattingly said. "You've got to win on the road. Something these guys should be proud of."
They took this one even though they lost their second baseman and manager along the way. Ellis doubled and scored in the third before being tossed when he and Mattingly argued a called third strike with plate umpire Alan Porter in the fourth inning.
"I don't know if he was having a bad day or what," Ellis said. "That's about all I'm going to say commenting on an umpire."
Bad call or not, it didn't stop the Dodgers from improving to 12-2 since the All-Star break.
The NL West leaders remained unbeaten on the road since a loss at San Francisco on July 6 and matched the 1924 Brooklyn Robins for the longest streak in franchise history.
"It's pretty special," said Nick Punto, who had two hits and drove in two runs. "Pretty cool. Since 1924 someone was saying. That's really cool. This is a really special team."
Adrian Gonzalez and Yasiel Puig each added a pair of hits and scored a run for the Dodgers.
Los Angeles took control early, scoring two in the third and two more in the fourth while building a 5-1 lead and chasing All-Star Travis Wood (7-8).
That was enough for Hyun-Jin Ryu (10-3), who became the first Dodgers rookie to win 10 games since Kazuhisa Ishii in 2002. The left-hander matched a season high by allowing 11 hits in 5 1-3 innings but held Chicago to just two runs. He also struck out six without a walk.
Chicago's Junior Lake delivered another eye-popping performance at the plate, becoming the first Cubs player since at least 1916 to collect four hits twice in his first 16 major league games -- and the first in the majors to do so since St. Louis' Bo Hart in 2003. He's batting .358 since he got called up from Triple-A Iowa on July 19.
"(I) feel so good," he said through an interpreter. "(I'm seeing) the ball real well now."
But with Wood struggling with his control, the Cubs lost for the fifth time in six games.
The left-hander lasted just 3 1-3 innings in his shortest outing of the year, allowing five runs and seven hits. He threw 96 pitches and walked a season-high five, including four in a row in the third to force in the inning's second run after back-to-back doubles by Ellis and Punto and make it 3-1.
Was Porter squeezing him?
"No. I felt like I was just missing," Wood said.
The Dodgers added to their lead in the fourth after Ellis and Mattingly got tossed.
Ryu had just led off with a single when Ellis got called out on a 3-2 pitch. He threw his bat a few feet and raised his arms, leading to an ejection by Porter, and then slammed his helmet in disgust.
"It should never happen," Ellis said. "It's embarrassing to get thrown out of a game, especially when there was no reason for it."
His manager wound up getting thrown out for the third time this season and bumping into Porter as the argument continued. Mattingly thought the umpire actually walked into him.
"I felt like he did," Mattingly said. "I didn't feel like I was going forward. I'm sure the video will show. I'm pretty sure I wasn't going forward. I feel OK about that."
NOTES: Former Cubs closer Carlos Marmol worked a scoreless ninth, allowing a hit and a walk in his first appearance at Wrigley Field after being dealt to the Dodgers a month ago. ... President of baseball operations Theo Epstein said July was a winning month for the Cubs, and he wasn't talking just about their 14-13 record. They beefed up their farm system by trading away Alfonso Soriano and Matt Garza and signing draft picks and international players. "It was a good month," Epstein said. "For people who are wanting things to go well in the organization, looking for progress, they can see the progress, seize onto it. It's a time for hope and optimism. That applies to all of us. It was easier to come to work the last few days than it was a couple months ago. It's an important time to remind everyone, remind ourselves, that the progress isn't linear. There are going to be other really bad months."... Mattingly said pitcher Stephen Fife, on the disabled list with right shoulder bursitis, will "chuck" for Triple-A Albuquerque or in Chicago on Sunday. If Fife is with Albuquerque, he would presumably pitch. But Mattingly was a bit evasive when asked if Fife would throw on the side or pitch in a game on Sunday if he's in Chicago. Zack Greinke is scheduled to start that day for the Dodgers, and Mattingly said, "Right now we're in line."
