It was role reversal night in Houston as the hitters were the ones to carry the team to victory, overcoming some shoddy bullpen work.
Jeff Kent's solo shot in the top of the 11th gave the Dodgers a 7-6 edge, and Takashi Saito nailed down the Astros in order to seal the win. The Dodgers did have a 6-1 lead at one point, but the bullpen could not get the job done.
The scoring started quickly for LA, as Russell Martin, pretty much the only consistent hitter they've got, smacked a 2-run shot for the early lead off of Wandy Rodriguez. Hunter Pence got one back for the 'Stros with an RBI single to slash the lead in half.
From there, the Dodgers scored a single run in 4 straight innings starting in the 3rd. The highlights included RBI singles by James Loney and Martin, and RBI doubles by Matt Kemp and Kent. It was a little surprising that they were able to be so productive against Rodriguez considering he had an ERA in the 2's coming in, but didn't have his best stuff last night.
Clayton Kershaw was the starter, and was given a nice early lead, but still was unable to come up with his first Big League win. He's got to be wondering if it'll ever happen. He was cruising through the early part of the game until the 6th. He walked Lance Berkman to start, then K'd Carlos Lee. Miguel Tejada then singled, and Mark Loretta grounded out to Kershaw for runners on 2nd and 3rd. Joe Torre then elected to go to the bullpen and bring in Brian Falkenborg...
... and Ty Wiggington greeted him with a 3-run homer to cut the lead to 6-4. Still, Kershaw was in line for a win, but Jonathan Broxton surrendered a 2-run double to Carlos Lee to tie the score. I've got the feeling that if anyone except Kershaw was starting, this game would have been easily put away. Ah well, he'll have another chance Sunday in San Francisco for that first win.
Joe Beimel and Chan Ho Park combined to hold the Astros scoreless in the 9th and 10th, and then Kent hit one out with 1 down in the 11th. Saito thankfully did not have to face the heart of the Astros order as they went down easily.
It's good to see the bats carry the team through, even if they did strand 11. With news of Rafael Furcal suffering yet another setback, it's going to continue to be a struggle each game. I'm glad to the veterans of Kent and Martin are leading the way. They're going to have to do a whole lot of that if they want to take over the NL West lead.
Hiroki Kuroda comes off the DL to make the start tonight. He was hot and cold before he went on, so if he's healthy, I'm sure he'll be fine.
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