DENVER — James Loney drove in three runs, Chad Billingsley pitched six solid innings and the surging Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies 7-2 on Friday night.
Billingsley (15-10) gave up two runs and six hits for the Dodgers, who have won three straight and 11 of 12. Los Angeles remained 3 1/2 games ahead of Arizona, which beat Cincinnati.
Loney, Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and Angel Berroa had two hits each for the Dodgers.
Matt Holliday homered for the defending NL champion Rockies, who have lost six straight and are 9 1/2 games behind Los Angeles in the NL West with 14 games remaining.
Rockies first baseman Todd Helton was activated from the 60-day DL before the game and pinch-hit for starter Jeff Francis in the sixth, striking out in his first at-bat since July 2.
Francis (4-10) allowed three runs and six hits with five strikeouts. Francis is 1-2 in six starts since coming of the DL on Aug. 7.
The Dodgers took the lead for good when Nomar Garciaparra led off the fourth with a double and scored on Matt Kemp’s single to make it 3-2.
Manny Ramirez stretched the lead to 4-2 with an RBI single off the right-field wall in the seventh, and Loney’s three-run double in the eighth made it 7-2.
The Rockies scored first on Holliday’s 25th homer in the first and tied the game at 2-all in the bottom of the second on Clint Barmes’ single that knocked in Troy Tulowitzki.
Notes: Dodgers manager Joe Torre said 2B Jeff Kent (left knee) is hitting off a tee and will take batting practice next week. … The Rockies honored Eric Young before the game. Young, who retired as a member of the Rockies, hit the first home run in the franchise’s inaugural home game at Mile High Stadium on April 9, 1993. … Holliday’s home run was his first since Aug. 19, a span of 79 at-bats.
