DENVER — Aaron Cook pitched effectively for 6 1/3 innings, Carlos Gonzalez homered and added a run-saving defensive gem in center field and the Colorado Rockies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-3 Saturday night.
Seth Smith and Miguel Olivo each had three hits with two RBI apiece to help the Rockies reverse a losing trend against Los Angeles, which had won six of its previous seven games in Colorado, including a 5-4 victory in Friday night's series opener.
Cook (2-3) allowed three runs — one earned — on six hits. He walked two and struck out one in his first win in a month.
Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda (5-3) had his shortest and roughest outing of the season, giving up seven runs (five earned) on 10 hits in four innings. And it was no surprise it came against Colorado. He fell to 0-3 with a 7.57 ERA in five career starts against the Rockies.
The victory was Colorado's sixth in seven games and gave Rockies manager Jim Tracy his 100th victory since getting the job a year ago.
Cook, who couldn't get out of the fifth inning being staked to a 9-0 lead in his last outing, found himself in a one-out, two-on first-inning jam but worked out of it by inducing Matt Kemp to ground into a double play.
The Rockies pitcher helped himself by hitting a run-scoring single in the third and also benefited from two breathtaking defensive plays.
With two outs and a runner at second in the third, Gonzalez closed furiously on Manny Ramirez's fly ball to the right-center gap and at the last instant dove to make the shoestring catch. In the fourth, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki made a sideways, leaping catch to snare a liner off the bat of James Loney. Both plays brought a roar from the crowd and an appreciative pounding of his glove by Cook.
In a sign Kuroda was in for a tough night, the Rockies loaded the bases before he registered an out. He hit the first batter he faced, Gonzalez, with a pitch, Smith singled and Todd Helton walked ahead of Troy Tulowitzki's run-scoring fielder's choice and Brad Hawpe's sacrifice fly.
Gonzalez hit a two-out solo shot in the second — his seventh of the season and third in four games — and the Rockies added a pair of unearned runs in the third to go up 5-0. There were two outs in the third when Olivo reached after shortstop Rafael Furcal's throw to first base pulled Loney off the bag. Ian Stewart, Clint Barmes and Cook then singled in succession with the hits from Barmes and Cook driving in runs.
The Rockies added three more runs in the fifth, getting a two-run single from Smith and a bases-loaded walk by Gonzalez.
The Dodgers trailed 8-0 before scoring on RBI singles in the seventh by Loney, A.J. Ellis and Furcal, who had three hits on the night.
But in the eighth, the Rockies answered with a two-run triple by Olivo and an RBI single by Ian Stewart.
Notes
Andre Ethier was scheduled to play his second rehab game with Triple-A Albuquerque on Saturday before rejoining the Dodgers, who could activate the outfielder as soon as Monday. Ethier has been on the 15-day disabled list since May 15 with a fractured pinky finger. … Colorado has won all four of Cook's starts at home. … Gonzalez has scored eight runs in the last four games. He also has 25 RBIs in his last 26 games.