Triple-A callup Stults K's nine to beat Rockies

Dodgers 6, Rockies 4

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Eric Stults followed batterymate Russell Martin's instructions to the letter. And he was glad he did, because the prevailing letter for the rookie on Friday night turned out to be "K."

Stults allowed two hits and struck out nine over seven innings after getting recalled from Triple-A, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies 6-4 Friday night.

"I've got to give Russ a lot of credit. The game plan he had was working tonight," Stults said after taming an offense that came in second in the NL in batting average, runs and on-base percentage. "He wanted me to pound them in with the fastball and keep them off my changeup away. And that's pretty much what we did. We kept them honest inside."

Stults (1-1) allowed two runs in his fourth major league start and retired his final 13 batters after giving up a two-out RBI single by Troy Tulowitzki in the third.

The Dodgers' 26-year-old left-hander threw 66 of his 102 pitches for strikes. Stults also was active on the basepaths with a double in the fourth inning, and scored a run during the Dodgers' five-run second after reaching on a fielder's choice grounder.

"In Triple-A, they try to keep us on a pretty strict pitch count. So I was getting to probably where I was starting to run out of gas a little bit," Stults said. "I could tell my legs were getting heavy. It seemed like every time I came to the plate, I had to run hard."

One reason Stults was tabbed to replace struggling lefty Mark Hendrickson in the rotation was so the Dodgers could start him again five days later against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. In two previous starts against the Mets, he allowed three runs and seven hits over 11 1/3 innings. Stults beat them 9-1 with six innings of two-hit ball on Sept. 10, 2006, in his first big league start.

"It definitely helped having gotten those first few starts out of the way, so it's not quite as nerve-racking when you go out there," he said. "Obviously, this is a confidence boost. I don't know what the future may hold, but I'll just try to take this into the next outing."

Garrett Atkins hit his 18th homer for Colorado with a man on in the ninth against Scott Proctor. But Takashi Saito got the final two outs for his 32nd save in 35 attempts.

Jeff Kent tied Joe DiMaggio for 65th place on the career home run list, while the Dodgers won their third straight after losing 13 of 16. Los Angeles remains 6 1/2 games behind Arizona in the NL West, while the Rockies are seven games back.

Josh Fogg (7-8) pitched 6 2/3 innings and was charged with six runs and eight hits -- six of which came during the Dodgers' big rally. The right-hander is 0-4 with a 5.91 ERA in his last six starts against them.

Kent, who has more home runs than any second baseman in big league history, drove Fogg's first pitch of the second inning to center field for his 16th homer and 361st of his career -- triggering the five-run rally. The 16-year veteran pulled even with DiMaggio in his 7,946th at-bat -- 1,125 more than "The Yankee Clipper" had during his 13 seasons patrolling center field in New York.

"Kent's in elite territory," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "I got to know him a little bit when I was in New York, and you always know that when he's in the other dugout, you're in for a dogfight. He's done well against us, so he's always made his presence felt. He's been a great player for a long time, and he plays to win."

Pierre chased Fogg with a two-out triple in the seventh and scored on a single by Mark Sweeney, who made his first start with the Dodgers at first base after pinch-hitting five times.

Game notes
Yankees 1B Jason Giambi also tied DiMaggio on Friday with two home runs. ... After the game, Hurdle said the Rockies will option CF Clint Barmes to Triple-A Colorado Springs on Saturday to make room for LHP Franklin Morales, who will make his major league debut. ... Kent and Luis Gonzalez have a combined total of 260 RBIs against the Rockies -- 39 more than the other 14 position players on the team have collectively against Colorado pitching. ... The Rockies have gone four straight games without a home run since a five-game drought May 22-27. ... RHP Ramon Ortiz, acquired Wednesday by Colorado in a trade with Minnesota, made his Rockies debut. This is his fifth big league team in five seasons. ... The crowd of 48,072 enabled the Dodgers to surpass the 3 million mark in home attendance for the 12th straight season and a record 22nd time altogether.