LOS ANGELES — With homers and dreadlocks flying, plus miscues in the outfield, it was definitely a very Manny day at Dodger Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The end result was a 9-5 Los Angeles laugher over the Rockies and their struggling ace, Aaron Cook. It was the Dodgers’ seventh consecutive victory.
Manny Ramirez hit his first two homers of the season in his first two at-bats, both off Cook. It was the 54th multihomer game of Ramirez’s career, tying him with Hall of Famer Frank Robinson for ninth all-time.
In the first inning, he belted Cook’s 3-2 fastball into the left-field bleachers, giving the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. In the second, he turned on Cook’s 1-0 pitch, driving the ball down the left-field line, putting the Dodgers in front 2-0.
With 1,732 career RBIs, Ramirez is tied with the legendary Honus Wagner for 19th place all-time.
Cook, a 16-game winner and all-star last season, remained winless in three starts. His ragged outing was reminiscent of opening day vs. Arizona, when he left the ball up and paid a heavy price. Saturday, Cook was gone after four innings, his ledger smeared by five runs on eight hits, including three homers.
While Ramirez’s two homers set the tone, it was Andre Ethier’s three-run shot to right in the fourth that gave the Dodgers a 5-0 lead and hastened Cook’s departure. Ethier tacked on a solo homer off reliever Allen Embree in the seventh, giving Ethier four RBIs. In 12 games he already has four home runs and 13 RBIs.
Brad Hawpe’s two-run triple briefly put the Rockies back into the game in the sixth. Seth Smith drew a walk off Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley and Todd Helton followed up with a single. Hawpe sliced an opposite-field line drive to left where Ramirez made a comical dive at the ball as two runs came home. Hawpe scored on Ian Stewart’s sacrifice fly to right. Stewart also hit a solo homer to right in the eighth, his second this season.
Ramirez’s other fielding misadventure came in the second. He was charged with an error when he camped under Hawpe’s fly to left only to have the ball pop out of his mitt.
A potential Rockies rally was snuffed out in the seventh when Smith, making a weak attempt on a sacrifice bunt, fouled out to third baseman Blake DeWitt, and Helton lined out to DeWitt and into a double play.
Colorado (4-6) fell to 1-3 on its current eight-game road trip. It plays the Dodgers again Sunday afternoon before moving to Arizona for a three-game set beginning Monday.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
