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Triple play not enough for D-backs

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By Steve Gilbert / MLB.com

05/05/09 3:00 AM ET

LOS ANGELES -- Dodger Stadium is a wonderful place to watch a baseball game.

Unless of course you're the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The D-backs dropped their sixth consecutive game at Chavez Ravine, this one a 7-2 decision Monday that dropped them 7 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the National League West.

Once again, Manny Ramirez was right in the middle of things for the Dodgers. The slugger, who came into the game 27-for-54 with five home runs in his career against the D-backs, added to those numbers with a 2-for-3 night that included a double, homer and three RBIs.

It was Ramirez who got the Dodgers on the board in the first inning when he hit a 3-2 offering from Doug Davis into the left-field pavilion.

"I didn't get it in as much as I wanted," Davis said of the pitch. "It wasn't a bad pitch, but like I said, too much plate."

The very next pitch, Andre Ethier smacked one into the seats in right and the Dodgers had a 2-0 lead.

"That gave them the momentum to begin with," D-backs manager Bob Melvin said.

The D-backs cut the lead in half in the second on Josh Wilson's RBI single, and it looked like a big play in the bottom half of the inning might turn things in Arizona's favor.

After the Dodgers put the first two runners on, Casey Blake hit a line drive that Wilson backhanded and fired to second to start a 6-4-3 triple play.

"At the time it looked like it potentially could be a momentum shifter," Melvin said. "It didn't end up happening that way."

That's because the D-backs' offense struggled to put anything together against Dodgers starter Eric Stults, who came into the game with a 5.50 ERA.

It was Arizona's second look at the left-hander, and he showed the D-backs something he didn't when they faced him earlier this year, a cut fastball.

Between the cutter, his fastball, curve and change, Stults (3-1) was able to hold the D-backs to two runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Meanwhile, Davis was pitching his way into and out of trouble until the Dodgers were able to break through in the fifth for a pair of runs and send Davis to the showers.

"Physically I felt great," Davis said. "Mentally I was there. I had a plan. I just couldn't execute the plan. It was one of those days where you want to go out there and execute every single pitch and maybe I was trying to be too fine at times, maybe giving a little too much credit to the hitters.

"These guys were not swinging out of the zone whatsoever. They were making good at-bats. I think [James] Loney was the only one that swung out of the zone all night. I just didn't make quality pitches when I had to."

The Dodgers tacked on two more runs in the sixth and another in the eighth, but it really didn't matter at that point because other than a solo homer from Mark Reynolds, the Arizona offense was silent.

"We've got to score runs to win, especially against a team that is first in the National League in runs," Melvin said.

That's something the D-backs have struggled to do consistently all year long. They entered the game 13th in the league in runs scored, compared to the league-leading Dodgers.

The win was the 11th in a row at home for the Dodgers, which established an NL record for most consecutive wins at home to start a season. The Major League record for best start at home belongs to the 1911 Tigers, who won their first 12 games at Bennett Park.

Steve Gilbert is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.