LOS ANGELES – Troy Tulowitzki hit two more home runs, tying a modern major league record with 14 shots in a 15-game stretch, and the Colorado Rockies kept up their playoff push by routing the Los Angeles Dodgers 12-2 Saturday.
Tulowitzki hit a two-run homer in the first inning, doubled in the third and added another two-run homer in the fifth against rookie John Ely. Tulowitzki fouled out with the bases loaded in the eighth, but Melvin Mora hit a grand slam later in the inning.
Tulowitzki joined Albert Belle (1995) and Barry Bonds (2001) as the only players since 1900 to homer 14 times in a span of 15 games. He has four multihomer games this year — all of them this month — and is hitting .394 with 35 RBIs in his last 16 games.
The Rockies began the day 1½ games behind San Francisco in the NL West, and chasing for the wild card.
Mora also singled home a run. His five RBIs were one off his career best with Baltimore in 2008.
Jhoulys Chacin (9-9) threw 111 pitches over eight innings and was pulled three outs shy of his first big league shutout and complete game. The 22-year-old righty scattered nine hits, struck out two and did not allow a walk in his 20th career start.
Chacin escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fifth by getting Ryan Theriot to ground into a double play. Theriot has just four hits in his last 45 at-bats.
Russ Mitchell hit a two-run homer for the Dodgers in the ninth against Franklin Morales.
Tulowitzki got the Rockies rolling after a two-out walk in the first to NL batting leader Carlos Gonzalez.
Tulowitzki hit a first-pitch homer to center field for his 26th of the season after another walk to Gonzalez in the third. Ryan Spilborghs added an RBI single to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 12 games. In five of those games, Spilborghs kept the streak going as a pinch-hitter.
Ely (4-8) gave up six runs on five hits and five walks in 4 1-3 innings. The 24-year-old righty is in his second stint with the Dodgers this season. He was inserted into the rotation because of Vicente Padilla's season-ending neck injury.
Notes: Dodgers LHP Clayton Kershaw will start Sunday's series finale with a string of 29 consecutive scoreless innings against the Rockies at Dodger Stadium. ... Matt Kemp hasn't homered in his 23 games and 81 at-bats since his 449-foot solo shot at Milwaukee against Dave Bush. Andre Ethier has homered only twice in 70 at-bats over his last 20 games. Kemp and Ethier lead the Dodgers with 22 homers each, after combining for 57 last season.
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