Ramirez lends his bat to cause

The black-barreled bat owned by Manny Ramirez figured prominently in what happened at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, blasting the $25-million man’s first two home runs of the season.

The bat’s looming presence was credited for the first of the two home runs hit by Andre Ethier in a 9-5 thumping of the Colorado Rockies that extended the Dodgers’ winning streak to seven games.

“It’s obviously the case,” Ethier said.

Ramirez was out of the game by the bottom of the seventh, but the bat wasn’t. He offered it to reliever Will Ohman, who had only three previous at-bats in the majors and showed up to work without a stick of his own. So he borrowed Manny’s.

The result: a run-scoring single that accounted for the Dodgers’ final run.

“A lot of hits are in that bat so I jumped on it,” said Ohman, a situational left-hander.

What about Manny’s glove?

Not as good.

Upon the left fielder’s return to the dugout in the middle of the second inning, Manager Joe Torre said Ramirez told him, “No Gold Glove this year.”

Ramirez had just nearly handed back the lead he’d given the Dodgers with home run No. 1 in the bottom of the first, dropping a routine fly ball hit his way by Brad Hawpe in the top of the second.

“I just dropped it,” Ramirez said with his customary shrug. “Torii Hunter, he’s got like 10 Gold Gloves and he misses sometimes. What about me? I don’t even have a silver one.”

The Medusa-maned left fielder’s glove of stone struck again in the sixth inning. This time, it struck air.

Ramirez failed to get anywhere near another ball hit by Hawpe, making an overly ambitious and mistimed dive -- or was it a collapse? -- that left him rolling around in the grass while the ball bounced to the wall.

Two runs were driven in on what officially went into the books as a triple for Hawpe, who then scored on a sacrifice fly by Ian Stewart to cut the Dodgers’ lead to 5-3.

The runs were the only ones charged on this day to Chad Billingsley, who ran up his pitch count to 111 over six innings but nonetheless improved to 3-0.

Billingsley limited the Rockies to three hits. He stuck out six and walked three.

Rockies starter Aaron Cook (0-1) labored as much as Billingsley but with far worse results.

Ramirez took him deep in the first inning and again in the third to put the Dodgers ahead, 2-0. The solo shots earned Ramirez a gift from clubhouse manager Mitch Poole, who presented him with a bottle of champagne.

The multi-homer game was the 54th of Ramirez’s career, ninth all-time and second among active players behind Ken Griffey Jr., who has 55. The home runs were the 528th and 529th of his career. His runs-batted-in total now stands at 1,732, tied for 19th all-time with Honus Wagner.

Ethier said he was convinced that Ramirez was in Cook’s head.

Ethier, batting second in the order Saturday, went to the plate in the fourth inning with two outs and men on first and second -- and Ramirez on deck. He worked the count to 3-1.

“Manny, first two at-bats, he had two home runs off him,” Ethier said. “I got in a hitter’s count. I figured he wanted to keep something around the zone and avoid Manny with the bases loaded.”

He figured right. Ethier’s three-run shot increased the margin to 5-0.

Another towering homer by Ethier in the seventh inning -- this one a solo shot that landed halfway up the right-field pavilion -- jump started a four-run rally for the Dodgers that put the game out of reach at 9-3.

The victory improved the Dodgers to 5-0 at Dodger Stadium this season and 28-9 since last year’s All-Star break, the best home record in baseball over that span.

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com

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DODGERS TODAY

VS. COLORADO

When: 1.

Where: Dodger Stadium

On the air: TV: Prime Ticket; Radio: 790, 930.

Pitchers: James McDonald vs. Ubaldo Jimenez.

Update: McDonald’s first major league start was a nightmare, as he was pounded by Arizona for five runs in 2 1/3 innings. Temporarily sent to be bullpen, he tossed a scoreless inning Thursday against San Francisco. Jimenez has a 5.35 earned-run average against the Dodgers but is 4-0 against them in seven games (six starts). He threw seven scoreless innings at Arizona in his season debut but lasted only 3 2/3 innings in Chicago six days later.

-- Dylan Hernandez