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Matzek aims to duplicate his debut at Chavez Ravine

Jun 16, 2014 - 3:16 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Colorado Rockies hope Tyler Matzek's second career start goes much like his debut when he takes the mound Monday against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener of a three-game set at Chavez Ravine.

Matzek dazzled the Coors Field faithful in Wednesday's 8-2 win over the Atlanta Braves and hurled seven innings of two-run ball. He struck out seven batters and did not issue a walk. The 11th player selected in the 2009 First- Year Player Draft carried a perfect game bid into the fifth.

"Explosive fastball and it looked like his slider disappeared," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said of Matzek. "It looked like he had it all working."

The left-handed Matzek, who went 1-for-3 with a run scored at the plate, threw 60 of his 81 pitches for strikes.

Colorado has won five in a row and rallied three straight times to sweep the rival and NL West-leading San Francisco Giants this weekend at AT&T Park. The Rockies scored four runs in the top of the eighth inning to erase a 7-4 deficit, as Drew Stubbs stroked an RBI triple and scored on Michael McKenry�s base hit. Justin Morneau later came on as a pinch-hitter and drove in two with a double.

The Rockies� bullpen took over from there and Matt Belisle earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief. Starter Juan Nicasio only pitched two innings and allowed three runs, while Franklin Morales permitted four runs in three innings of work. LaTroy Hawkins worked around a walk in the ninth for his 14th save of the season.

Troy Tulowitzki showed no signs of a toe issue and went 3-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored. Tulowitzki is batting an MLB-best .362 with 18 homers and 45 RBI. Charlie Blackmon also had three hits for the Rockies, who have scored 48 runs in the past six games and are 15-21 on the road.

The Rockies are first in the majors in batting average (.286), slugging percentage (.465), on-base percentage (.338), runs (357) and RBI (340), and first in the NL with 86 homers. Toronto has more home runs with 92.

Los Angeles was aiming for a three-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks, but dropped Sunday�s series finale by a 6-3 score. Josh Beckett was handed the loss for surrendering four runs (3 earned) in seven innings of work. Beckett had won four of his previous six starts.

"Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong," said Beckett.

Dodgers sluggers Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp ended with two hits apiece, while Hanley Ramirez and Justin Turner both had RBI doubles in the loss. Los Angeles is still a decent 6-4 in its last 10 games, but just 15-20 at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers are counting on Hyun-Jin Ryu to bounce back into the win column when he toes the rubber Monday. Ryu had a four-start unbeaten streak come to an end in Wednesday's 5-0 road loss to Cincinnati and yielded four runs in six innings of work.

Ryu allowed four runs in his previous two starts prior to the loss against the Reds and is 7-3 this season with a 3.33 earned run average. Ryu is 2-2 in five home starts and 1-1 in two starts against the Rockies this season. He has made four career starts against Colorado, going 2-2 with a 4.71 ERA.

The Dodgers won two of three games in Colorado earlier this month and the season series is split at three wins apiece.