Dee Gordon, Matt Kemp lead Dodgers over Rockies

LOS ANGELES -- Dee Gordon reached base five times and Matt Kemp had a pair of run-scoring hits in a balanced Dodgers offensive attack in Monday night's 6-1 win over the Rockies at Dodger Stadium.

Gordon had his third career game of at least four hits, and opened the scoring with a little league home run in the third inning. With one out he lined a ball into the left field corner that confounded Charlie Blackmon at least twice, allowing Gordon to score, rounding the bases in a paltry 13.9 seconds.

"We knew Dee would hit an inside-the-parker [this year]," Don Mattingly said. "It was going to be on a ball like that in the corner. It's three right away, then it gets by.

The play was scored a triple plus an error, giving Gordon his seventh triple of the year, most in the National League. Coming into this season Gordon had five career triples in 669 plate appearances. Gordon is now hitting .285/.333/.403 on the season.

Hanley Ramirez followed Gordon with a walk in the third inning, and scored on a single by Kemp for a 2-0 lead. The duo repeated the process in the sixth inning, only this time Ramirez reached base with a single to score Gordon, and Kemp's hit was a double off the center field wall.

Kemp has a five-game hitting streak including four multi-hit games during that span, and is hitting .417/.511/.667 (15-for-36) with five extra-base hits over his last 11 games.

Yasiel Puig joined the fun with three hits of his own, as did A.J. Ellis, who remained hot since returning from the disabled list.

Ellis was 2-for-3 with a walk and until his seventh-inning groundout had reached base in five straight plate appearances. Since his activation from the DL Ellis is 4-for-7 with four walks in three games.

Hyun-Jin Ryu utilized the run support and cruised through six innings with six strikeouts for his eighth win. He walked just one, and his only blemish on the scoreboard was a home run allowed to Wilin Rosario on an 0-2 pitch in the fourth inning.

Three of the Dodgers' runs were scored against Tyler Matzek, making his second big league start. Matzek allowed 12 runners to reach base in his five innings and didn't strikeout a single batter, continuing a trend for newbies against the Dodgers in 2014.

This season the Dodgers have faced eight starting pitchers in either their first or second major league game. Those starters have a combined 7.02 ERA, averaging 5.13 innings per start. But with the win on Monday, the Dodgers improve to only 5-3 in those games.

Beats 4-4, I suppose.

The Dodgers have won seven of their last 11 games.

"We're starting to have a lot more fun. We had a tough little stretch, but that happens in baseball," said Kemp. "Every team in baseball has those, and hopefully we don't hit one of those again, and just stay consistent."

Notes

Scott Van Slyke, who doubled against the lefty Matzek, started at first base on Monday one day after starting in center field. The last Dodger to start in center field and first base in back-to-back days was Todd Hollandsworth on Sept. 17 and 18, 1999.

Ellis has walked in five straight games, tied for the longest streak of his career and something he has done three other times.

Carlos Triunfel had his first Dodgers plate appearance, pinch hitting for Brian Wilson in the eighth inning. Triunfel singled up the middle and scored, and is now tied with 16 others atop the all-time Dodgers batting average leaderboard.

Monday particulars

Home run: Wilin Rosario (7)

WP - Hyun-jin Ryu (8-3): 6 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts

LP - Tyler Matzek (1-1): 5 IP, 10 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks