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Kemp, 10-run first fuels Dodgers past Rockies

Apr 27, 2008 - 5:39 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Matt Kemp drove in five runs in the first inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers scored 10 times in the frame and cruised to an 11-3 rout of the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night.

Brad Penny (4-2) pitched seven effective innings for the Dodgers, who have not scored more than 10 runs in a single frame since the club moved to Los Angeles.

"Any run support is good, but when I get that many runs to work with, it makes my job a lot easier," Penny said. "I felt good today and the early run support let me be aggressive and go after their hitters."

The Brooklyn Dodgers tallied 15 runs in the first inning on May 21, 1952 against the Cincinnati Reds. Los Angeles has scored 10 runs in a frame on three other occasions, the most recent coming vs. the San Diego Padres on September 13, 1977.

"We have been struggling lately offensively and it's always good to see us start a game like that," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "This was a good win for us and hope we can keep swinging the hot bats tomorrow."

Kemp capped the offensive outburst in the opening inning with a grand slam off Rockies starter Mark Redman (2-2).

"I was looking for a pitch in my zone with the bases loaded and I got a pitch I could handle and just made good contact," Kemp said. "It was good to see us put up a lot of runs early cause we know our offense is capable of doing that."

After Garrett Atkins' two-run shot provided Colorado with a 2-0 edge in the top half of the first inning, Kemp started the scoring for Los Angeles with a sacrifice fly to plate Juan Pierre.

It was the last out that Redman would record for a while. After Jeff Kent laced a single to right field, Redman issued consecutive walks to Russell Martin, James Loney and Andruw Jones.

Blake Dewitt then delivered a two-run single and Penny followed with a run-scoring base hit to give the Dodgers a 5-2 advantage.

Rafael Furcal belted an RBI double to deep right and Pierre was hit by a pitch to load the bases and set the stage for Kemp's second home run of the season.

"They have an offense capable of putting up big numbers and it showed tonight," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. "We used a lot of our bullpen last night and just had to have Mark (Redman) go out and give us innings."

That was plenty of run support for Penny, who owns a 13-2 record in 22 career starts against the Rockies. He allowed three runs on four hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

After getting tagged for 10 runs in the opening frame, Redman remained on the hill and pitched five scoreless innings.