Posted on Sun, May. 04, 2008

Dodgers win eighth straight, 12-7 over struggling Rockies

By PAT GRAHAM

The Associated Press

DENVER --

James Loney homered and drove in six runs and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies 12-7 on Saturday night to extend their winning streak to eight.

Brad Hawpe went 3-for-5 with a homer and drove in four runs, and Matt Holliday also homered for the Rockies, who have lost three straight and 11th of their last 13 games. Colorado is 11-19 and is eight game under .500 for the first time since May 22, 2007.

Hong-Chih Kuo (1-1) got the win in relief of Esteban Loaiza, allowing one run and striking out five in 3 2-3 innings.

Jorge De La Rosa (0-1) took the loss in his first major league game of the season. De La Rosa, acquired from Kansas City on Wednesday, gave up nine runs and nine hits with three walks in four innings.

The Rockies said De La Rosa was not the player to be named later in the March 27 trade for reliever Ramon Ramirez, as was previously reported. Instead, the team said De La Rosa was acquired in a separate deal, for another player to be determined in the future.

Juan Pierre went 3-for-4 and Rafael Furcal had two hits and scored three runs for the Dodgers, who have won nine of their last 10.

Loney was the difference in the game. He hit a three-run double in the first inning, and he chased De La Rosa with a three-run homer in the fifth that made it 9-6. His six RBIs were the most since his two-homer, nine-RBI performance at Colorado on Sept. 28, 2006.

He nearly had another RBI in the sixth, but center fielder Willy Taveras made a diving catch of Loney's drive to the gap in left-center.

The Dodgers took a 6-0 lead with four runs in the first and two in the second. Loney's three-run double highlighted the first. Matt Kemp had a sacrifice fly and Jeff Kent an RBI groundout in the second.

Colorado rallied for three runs in the bottom of the second, and tied it in the third. Holliday led off with a blast to deep left-center, his fifth of the year. After Garrett Atkins chased Loaiza with a double, Hawpe hit Kuo's first pitch into the right field seats to make it 6-6.

Notes:@ The Rockies placed SS Troy Tulowitzki on the 15-day DL with a torn quadriceps muscle in his left leg. The move is retroactive to April 29. ... Helton's double in the second inning was the 800th extra-base hit of his career. ... Martin started at 3B for the second straight game. ... Colorado's Jonathan Herrera got his first major league hit with a single in the bottom of the sixth.