Andre Ethier, Dodgers clobber Marlins 7-1 for first win of May

The Dodgers got offense from unexpected and unlikely places on Saturday night to back another solid performance by Hyun-jin Ryu, giving them a 7-1 win over the Marlins to snap a season-worst eight-game losing streak.

Saturday marked the Dodgers' first win of May.

Andre Ethier entered the game hitting .235/.331/.353, a performance that prompted manager Don Mattingly to say before the game, "I see a little bit of a different guy. There's less use of the whole field, more pull. Some of his at-bats seem to be getting a little quick."

Ethier responded with the 12th four-hit game of his career, including two doubles, and scored three runs.

Dee Gordon was 1-for-4 with a walk, and his one hit was a home run to right center field in the third inning, his first home run of the season. It was the second home run of Gordon's career, and first of the non-Coors Field variety.

Skip Schumaker, hitting just .158/.294/.211 (9-for-57) entering the game, drove in a run in each of his first three plate appearances and ended the night 2-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base.

Juan Uribe followed Schumaker in the order and went 2-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice fly for two RBI. Uribe is hitting .264/.403/.377 on the season.

The Dodgers battered Kevin Slowey for 11 hits in 4⅔ innings, tying the most allowed by one pitcher to the Dodgers this season. The other pitcher to allow 11 hits to the Dodgers this season was Jorge De La Rosa of the Rockies on Apr. 30, the Dodgers' last win before Saturday night.

That was more than enough offense to support Ryu, who pitched into the seventh inning. He didn't allow a run in his first six innings, but was greeted by Miguel Olivo in the seventh with a rocket into the left field pavilion. Two outs later, including a spectacular diving grab by Carl Crawford in left center field, Chris Coghlan singled to end Ryu's night. But Paco Rodriguez was able to retire Adeiny Hechavarria to end the inning, and the threat.

Ryu lasted at least six innings for the eighth consecutive start to begin his career, matching Claude Osteen (1965) and Don Sutton (1966) for the longest streak of six-inning games to open their Los Angeles Dodger career. The last Dodgers pitcher to open with a longer streak of six-inning games was Kirby Higbe, with 10 straight games for the 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers.

Notes

• Ethier's last three four-hit games have come against the Marlins. He had back-to-back four-hit games last Aug. 24-25 in the midst of his L.A. franchise record 10 consecutive hits.
  
• Matt Kemp went 1-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to 10 games, the longest streak by a Dodger this season. During the streak, Kemp is hitting .302 (13-for-43) with two doubles. Kemp has 998 hits in his career.
• Adrian Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with a run scored to extend his hitting streak to nine games, during which time he is hitting .367 (11-for-30).
  
• Uribe walked in the second inning on Saturday, his 13th walk of the season, in his 65th plate appearance. It matched Uribe's walk total for 2012, in 179 PA.
  
• Ryu walked in the fifth inning, forcing Slowey out of the game. It was the first major league walk for Ryu, in his 17th plate appearance. By comparison, Luis Cruz has no unintentional walks in his last 192 PA.
  

Saturday's particulars

Home runs: Dee Gordon (1); Miguel Olivo (3)

WP - Hyun-jin Ryu (4-2): 6⅔ innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts

LP - Kevin Slowey (1-3): 4⅔ innings, 11 hits, 5 runs, 3 walks