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Stults baffles Rockies as Dodgers down Rockies

Aug 18, 2007 - 6:02 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The message is clear: Eric Stults would much rather be a starter than a reliever.

Stults struck out a career-high nine and Jeff Kent homered as the Los Angeles Dodgers posted a 6-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Friday.

Recalled from the minors on Friday, Stults (1-1) has already established a discernible pattern in games in which he starts. The 27-year-old lefthander toyed with the Rockies all game long, setting them down in order in all but one of his seven frames and improving to 2-0 with a 2.73 ERA as a starter as opposed to his 0-1 record with a 7.27 ERA in eight relief appearances.

"I didn't have a lot of time to think about this start since I got called up before the game," Stults said. "I have always liked starting games, but no matter what situation I get put in, I just have to go out and throw my game."

Stults yielded just two runs and two hits in only his fourth career start before departing after 102 pitches in favor of Jonathan Broxton.

"He worked his fastball on both sides of the plate and got ahead of their hitters," Dodgers catcher Russell Martin said.

Kent, who leads the Dodgers with 16 homers, belted his first home run since July 25 to spark a five-run, first-inning outburst. After starting the month hitting .067 (2-for-30) before Thursday's series finale against the Houston Astros, the 2000 National League MVP has collected four extra-base hits over the last two contests for Los Angeles, which improved to 43-10 in games in which they score first.

"Jeff (Kent) has been getting his bat going the past few days and has carried us," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "Right now, we are just getting good quality pitching and timely hitting."

Trailing 6-2 in the ninth, Garrett Atkins made things interesting with a two-run homer off Dodgers reliever Scott Proctor, who relieved Broxton in the ninth. Los Angeles turned to closer Takashi Saito, who retired the final two hitters to notch his 32nd save in 35 chances.

"Stults was aggressive out there and kept our hitters off the basepaths," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "We started to get things going late in the game, but we just ran out of outs."

Juan Pierre hit a two-run single to cap the first off Rockies starter Josh Fogg (7-8) and recorded two hits for the Dodgers, who have scored six runs in three straight games. The 18 runs scored over the last three contests are three more runs than the team managed over their nine previous contests.

"I just feel really comfortable in the box right now," Pierre said. "We are starting to do everything right right now so hopefully we can keep our winning streak going."

Fogg surrendered six runs and eight hits over 6 2/3 innings, bringing an end to his modest two-game winning streak.

"(It just) felt like I didn't have my best stuff early on," Fogg said. "I had command issues on some of my pitches but I got better as the game went on."