Dodgers’ Milton makes up for lost time with fine effort

Eric Milton was back.

This time, really.

“Tonight,” Milton said, “was more me.”

Milton earned his first major league victory in nearly three years in the Dodgers’ 7-1 win over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on Tuesday, limiting the home team to a run over five innings.

From Manager Joe Torre to catcher Brad Ausmus, everyone in the Dodgers’ clubhouse seemed warmed by the latest chapter in Milton’s story, in which the former All-Star made a statement that he was back from the Tommy John surgery that kept him out of the big leagues for nearly two years.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Milton said. “I had a goal. That was to be back in the big leagues and pitch the way I’m capable of.”

With the victory, the Dodgers improved to a season-best 17 games over .500 and extended their lead over San Diego in the National League West to 8 1/2 games.

The key for Milton on Tuesday night was control.

That was something he lacked in Florida 10 days earlier, when he made his first major league start in 24 months. That day, Milton walked four batters, ran up his pitch count to 84 and lasted only four innings.

“I had trouble feeling the ball,” Milton said of his previous start. “It was one of the few times in my career I had no idea where the ball was going.”

Tuesday, it was the Rockies who were left clueless.

Manager Clint Hurdle said the Rockies studied video of Milton from spring training, but the tape was useless.

Why?

The pitcher on the mound wasn’t the same pitcher he was only a couple of months ago.

“He kept us off balance,” second baseman Clint Barmes said. “He had very sharp off-speed pitches tonight.”

That was something foreign to Ausmus as well. Ausmus, who was in the lineup to give Russell Martin a breather, said he recalled facing Milton in 1999 and 2000, when Milton was an up-and-coming pitcher with the Minnesota Twins.

“He was throwing a little harder then,” Ausmus said. “But I don’t remember him throwing a curveball, slider and changeup the way he was tonight.”

The only punishable mistake made by Milton came in the fifth inning, when he served up a home run to Barmes.

That wasn’t anything the Dodgers’ surging offense couldn’t overcome.

Juan Pierre had another outstanding game, finishing three for five, including a triple, scoring two runs and driving in two.

Casey Blake was two for five with two doubles and drove in three runs.

The Dodgers made starter Aaron Cook give up a run early, as their first three batters reached base. Pierre scored when Blake grounded into a double play to put the Dodgers ahead, 1-0.

The floodgates didn’t open up until the fifth inning, when Orlando Hudson and Andre Ethier drew consecutive walks to load the bases, setting up a bases-clearing double by Blake that extended the lead to 4-0.

Cook dropped his second decision of the season against the Dodgers, as he was charged with five runs (four earned) and eight hits in six innings.

As was the case in the Dodgers’ win Monday night, the game moved out of the Rockies’ reach when Jason Grilli walked onto the mound.

Grilli, who was pounded for four runs in one-third of an inning Monday, gave up a two-run single to Pierre in the eighth inning that increased the Rockies’ deficit to 7-1.

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com