LOS ANGELES_The tomato can that was the New York Mets vacated Dodger Stadium Thursday after being pummeled in a four-game sweep in which the Dodgers slugged 15 homers, a franchise record for a series.
Into the ring Friday night stepped the Colorado Rockies, an upstart with the third-best record in baseball and their sights set on dethroning the four-time defending National League West champions.
It wasn't much of a fight. The Dodgers swatted away the Rockies as if they were a fly on their shoulder, bunching five runs and 10 hits in the first four innings of a 6-1 victory in which left-hander Alex Wood continued his mound mastery.
Wood allowed one run and three hits in six innings, striking out seven and walking two, to improve to 8-0 with a 1.86 ERA and help the scorching-hot Dodgers extend their win streak to eight. The Dodgers won have 14 of 15 games, outscoring the Nationals, Reds, Indians and Mets, 104-57, in the span.
Justin Turner had two singles, a double and an RBI to bump his average to .392, Cody Bellinger hit a sacrifice fly and an RBI double, giving him 51 RBIs in 55 games, and Austin Barnes tripled and scored in the eighth.
Yasiel Puig, who drew the ire of the Mets on Wednesday for taking 32 seconds to round the bases on a three-run homer, ran so hard out of the box on his fourth-inning solo shot to center_his 14th homer of the season_that he reached first base before the ball left the park.
The only snag for the Dodgers was a right-hamstring cramp that knocked shortstop Corey Seager out of the game after two innings, an injury that does not appear serious but is cause for some concern.
Seager, who hit three homers Tuesday, smoked line drives to right field in his first two at-bats, hitting a single and scoring on Bellinger's sacrifice fly in the first and hitting a two-out, RBI single in a three-run second.
Barnes, who had led off with a walk, was waved home from second on Seager's hit, an aggressive send by third-base coach Chris Woodward that paid off when right fielder Raimel Tapia's one-hop throw skipped past catcher Tom Murphy, allowing Barnes to score for a 2-1 lead.
Seager took second on the throw but clutched his hamstring as he reached the bag. He remained in the game and scored without incident on Turner's single to right, but Seager headed for the clubhouse and did not take the field in the third.
The Dodgers are now 49-26 and have a 2{-game lead over Colorado (47-29) and Arizona (46-28). Friday marked the first time since divisional play began in 1969 that three teams in the same division had a .615 winning percentage through games of June 22.
The Dodgers, on a 105-win pace, were expected to be here; the Rockies, on a 100-win pace, were not. They've made the playoffs three times in 24 years and haven't had a winning season since 2010.
But Colorado has emerged as a contender under first-year manager Bud Black, the bats of Nolan Arenado, Mark Reynolds and Charlie Blackmon, the arms of rookie starters Kyle Freeland, 24, and German Marquez, 22, and the veteran arm of closer Greg Holland.
"It's different, it's fun, it's cool," said Arenado, the former El Toro High School standout who entered Friday with a major league-leading 46 extra-base hits and ranked third with 59 RBIs. "It's probably cool for the Dodgers, too, because it's different.
"It's usually the Dodgers and Giants in the NL West. Now, it's the Rockies and Diamondbacks. It's a different vibe. For us, we love it. We're the team that nobody thought would be in this position, but we are now. Hopefully we can ride this out."
Freeland, who entered with an 8-4 record and 3.42 ERA, hit some turbulence Friday night. The left-hander minimized damage in a four-hit, one-run first, but he was tagged for three runs and three hits in the second and gave up Puig's homer in the fourth.
Wood, meanwhile, had a smooth ride after two innings. He escaped a second-and-third, one-out jam in the first by striking out Reynolds and Ian Desmond and gave up a run on Murphy's RBI double in the second.
Wood retired 14 of 15 batters over the next 4 2/3 hitless innings, his only blemish a two-out walk in the third, before yielding to relievers Kenta Maeda, Brandon Morrow and Sergio Romo, who combined for three perfect innings.
