Uribe's 7 RBIs Land Dodgers in 2nd

Juan Uribe destroyed his old team, the San Francisco Giants, with seven RBIs to help the Dodgers pull to within 3 1/2 games of the NL West after trailing by 9 1/2 games just two weeks ago on Friday. With no dominant team in the division, the Dodgers have overcome a 30-42 start to win 11 of their last 13 games to move into a tie for second place with the Colorado Rockies and have a chance to go to Arizona next week and claim first place. 

Friday it was Uribe, the No. 8 hitter, who was the spark. In the third inning Uribe doubled to left of Matt Cain to drive in his first two runs and give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead en route to the 10-2 win Friday.

In the third, his line drive to left with bases loaded eluded a diving left fielder to result in a rare triple for the slow-footed Uribe. That triple made the score 7-1 and chase Cain from the game. Ryu then helped himself by punching a single through to right to make it 8-1, closing the books on Cain.

In the top of the seventh, Uribe drove a pitch over the left-center field wall for a 2-run homer for his sixth and seventh RBI to make the score 10-1.

He led off the bottom of the ninth against reliever Jake Dunning with a chance at the cycle, but could not hold up on a slider away to strike out.

Staked to the lead, Hyun-Jin Ryu (7-3, 2.82) was dominant again as he joins Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw as arguably the best 1-2-3 starting pitching punch in baseball. Kershaw continues to be almost untouchable with a 1.92 ERA, but the lack or run support before the arrival of Puig has left him just 7-5.

The Dodgers have now won four straight against their rivals to the north after starting just 1-5 against the Giants. The Dodgers are only 2-7 against first place Arizona, so a similar turnaround against the Diamondbacks would land them in first after the Monday through Wednesday series.