LOS ANGELES—Tom Gorzelanny got a chance to return to the Cubs’ rotation because of teammate Carlos Zambrano’s well-publicized blowup in the dugout. He has made the most of his second opportunity.Gorzelanny won for the second time in three starts after spending almost all of last month pitching out of the bullpen, and the Cubs got home runs from Aramis Ramirez and Geovany Soto in a 7-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday.Gorzelanny (4-5) allowed two runs — one earned — and six hits over six innings after being staked to an early 6-0 lead. The left-hander, who lost to the Dodgers on May 26 at Wrigley Field, walked only one after issuing six walks over five innings last Monday at Arizona in a 9-4 victory.John Ely (4-7) threw 47 pitches over 2 1/3 innings in the shortest of his 14 big league starts, after lasting only 2 2/3 innings last Monday in a 6-5 loss to Florida at Dodger Stadium. The 24-year-old right-hander was charged with six runs, five hits and three walks — one of them with the bases loaded.Ely has averaged 3.67 walks per nine innings over his last 10 starts, following a string of 89 consecutive batters in which he did not allow a base on balls.Ely is 1-6 with a 5.44 ERA in his past nine starts after recording his first three big league victories in consecutive outings.Ely’s father, Jack, is such a devout White Sox fan that he has steadfastly refused to attend any games at Wrigley Field. So he wasn’t on hand for his son’s first game in Chicago as a big leaguer on May 27, when he limited the Cubs to a run and four hits over 7 1/3 innings and lost 1-0.Marlon Byrd, who was 7 for 9 with three RBI during the first two games of the series, drew a leadoff walk in the second and scored on Starlin Castro’s single. Soto drove the next pitch into the left-field bullpen for his ninth homer.Six consecutive Cubs reached base during a three-run third after Ely got the first out. He hit Byrd on the left arm with a pitch before walking Alfonso Soriano with the bases loaded, then gave up RBI singles by Castro and Soto that extended the Cub lead to 6-0. It could have been worse, but left fielder Xavier Paul threw out Byrd trying to score behind Ramirez on Castro’s hit.The Dodgers got on the board in the second. First-time All-Star Andre Ethier dumped a bloop single to left in front of a diving Soriano to score Paul, and Rafael Furcal followed him home on a throwing error to third by Byrd as he backed up Soriano on the play.The rally began when Paul hit a grounder to first baseman Derrek Lee and umpire Jerry Layne ruled that Paul had beaten Gorzelanny in a foot race to the bag on a bang-bang play.Lou Piniella came out to argue. When the inning was over, Piniella came back on the field to pick up the argument and was ejected for the first time since Aug. 9, 2009.Ramirez got one of the runs back in the seventh with a first-pitch homer off Carlos Monasterios, who was making his first appearance since his start against Boston on June 18. He missed 14 games while on the disabled list because of a blister on his index finger.Ethier capped the scoring in the ninth with another RBI single, this one off Carlos Marmol.
NOTES—Manny Ramirez, on a rehab assignment with Class A Inland Empire, is expected to be activated next Thursday at St. Louis after his second stint on the disabled list this season. … Furcal was selected to replace injured Mets SS Jose Reyes on the NL All-Star roster.