Dodgers dig deep for win

Florida Marlins pitcher Chris Volstad took the mound with a perfect 2-0 record in two starts at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers were unimpressed.

With home runs by Matt Kemp, Casey Blake and Andre Ethier, three runs batted in by hot-hitting Rafael Furcal and another strong outing by starter Vicente Padilla, the Dodgers easily dispensed with Volstad and rolled to a 7-3 victory over the Marlins on Tuesday night.

With San Diego losing, the Dodgers’ win -- the eighth in their last 12 games -- lifted them to within three games of the division-leading Padres in the National League West.

Kemp said it was “a great day for all of us. We pitched well, scored some runs and played good defense.”

Padilla (3-2), the Dodgers’ opening-day starter, continued to sparkle since coming off the disabled list June 19.

In his previous outing, Padilla had yielded only one run in seven innings to beat the San Francisco Giants.

The 32-year-old Nicaraguan shut out the Marlins until Mike Stanton, a highly regarded Southern California native who made his major league debut with the Marlins a month ago, hit a two-run home run with two outs in the seventh inning.

Padilla “kept throwing a lot of strikes [and] just made the mistake to Stanton, just hung a breaking ball,” Manager Joe Torre said.

Stanton, 20, also singled home a run in the ninth inning off reliever Travis Schlichting to account for all three of the Marlins’ runs. Jonathan Broxton got the last two outs for his 18th save.

Volstad had helped the Marlins hold a 13-7 edge over the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium since 2004. But the 6-foot-8 right-hander lasted only three-plus innings Tuesday, giving up five earned runs, five hits and three walks.

After Russell Martin walked and Blake DeWitt singled in the second inning, Padilla moved them up with a sacrifice bunt and both scored when Furcal singled up the middle.

Furcal stole second base and Kemp then hit his 16th home run of the season into the left-field stands to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead. Kemp nearly hit a second home run when he flied out to the wall in the sixth inning.

Torre said Kemp, who’s hitting well after his recent three-game benching, “seems a little more patient” at the plate “and it’s paying off for him.”

Furcal’s run gave him a run scored in 12 consecutive games, setting a Los Angeles Dodgers record. Gil Hodges, with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1953, was the last Dodgers player overall achieve a 12-game run streak.

And Furcal wasn’t finished. He also singled home DeWitt in the eighth inning to widen the Dodgers’ lead to 7-2.

Blake earlier had a solo home run into the left-field corner in the third inning, and Ethier drove his 14th home run of the year into the right-field pavilion off Florida reliever Alejandro Sanabia in the fifth inning.

It was the fourth time this season that the Dodgers had at least three home runs in a game.

“Everybody’s making their contribution, we just did a lot of good things tonight,” Torre said. “It’s a great lift after losing the game yesterday.”

james.peltz@latimes.com