Major League Baseball

Gordon's 2 triples lead Dodgers past Rockies 7-2

Published Jun. 7, 2014 12:21 a.m. ET

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DENVER (AP) Dee Gordon got his team off to a quick start. The rest of the Los Angeles Dodgers followed his lead.

Gordon tripled twice among his three hits and drove in three runs as the Dodgers beat Colorado 7-2 on Friday night, handing the Rockies their eighth straight defeat.

The three RBIs were a career high for Gordon, who also stole his major league-leading 36th base while tying a career best for hits in a game.

''It was just fun getting on base,'' Gordon said. ''That's it, getting on base, giving us a chance to win.''

Gordon became the fifth major leaguer to have two triples in a game this season and the first Dodgers player to accomplish the feat since Rafael Furcal did it Sept. 28, 2010, also at Coors Field.

Hanley Ramirez had two hits and stole two bases, and Justin Turner also had two of Los Angeles' 12 hits.

''Our at-bats were good. Dee got us going early,'' manager Don Mattingly said. ''This is a pretty good offensive field. It's good for everybody.''

The Dodgers had lost six of eight but got healthy against the struggling Rockies. Hyun-Jin Ryu cruised through the first five innings before Drew Stubbs hit a solo homer with one out in the sixth.

Ryu (7-2) allowed two runs and eight hits over six innings in winning his fourth straight start.

''I could tell right away why a lot of pitchers don't like throwing here,'' Ryu said. ''It was a difficult outing out there. All aspects of gripping the ball was tough today. I just tried to keep the ball low the entire game.''

Stubbs and Troy Tulowitzki had two hits each for the slumping Rockies, who lost again in starter Eddie Butler's major league debut.

Butler was impressive at times, touching 96 mph with his fastball and getting ahead of batters early by staying around the plate.

''Opposing hitters were firing early because he was around the zone,'' Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. ''He's got the ability to be efficient and get quick outs.''

Colorado had hoped Butler (0-1) could stop the slide, but he struggled right from the start. Gordon ripped Butler's second major league pitch down the right-field line for a leadoff triple and scored on a groundout by Ramirez.

Drew Butera's RBI double in the second made it 2-0. Butler then settled down until the fifth, when the Dodgers stretched the lead.

After Ryu led off with a double, Gordon tripled again and Ramirez singled to make it 4-0.

''It's easy when you have a guy like Dee who can get into scoring position,'' Ramirez said. ''He's just trying to make it easy for us. I just want to win, I don't care about anything else.''

Gordon made it 6-0 in the sixth with a two-run single off Butler, who left after issuing a one-out walk to Ramirez.

Butler, called up from Double-A Tulsa to take lefty Franklin Morales' spot in the rotation, allowed six runs and 10 hits in 5 1-3 innings and learned how tough big league hitters are.

''You can't pitch over the middle of the plate. Obviously, Gordon got me pretty good today,'' Butler said. ''I'll just pull different things out of it to learn from.''

The Rockies didn't generate much against Ryu before the sixth. Their first two batters reached in the fourth but Ryu retired the next three to keep Colorado off the scoreboard.

Stubbs' fourth homer made it 6-1. Michael McKenry doubled and Charlie Culberson followed with a triple to make it 6-2.

Ryu got pinch-hitter Brandon Barnes to fly out to end the inning.

Yasiel Puig singled and scored in the ninth to extend his streak of reaching base to 37 consecutive games. That ties Toronto's Jose Bautista for the longest in the majors this season.

NOTES: Tulowitzki was ejected in the ninth by plate umpire Dan Iassogna for arguing balls and strikes. ... The Dodgers selected the contract of infielder Miguel Rojas from Triple-A Albuquerque and optioned infielder Erisbel Arruebarrena to the Isotopes. Rojas replaced Ramirez at shortstop in the eighth and made an error on his first chance. ... Rockies OF Michael Cuddyer was out of the lineup with a sore left shoulder.

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