Casey Blake had a home run and four RBIs, and Brad Ausmus reached base in all three plate appearances as the Dodgers defeated the Rangers, 6-3. The win gave them two of three in Texas in a battle of the NL and AL's best teams in the West.
Chad Billingsley got the start, and he had to battle back from a throwing error by Rafael Furcal that allowed two runs to score. With one out, Michael Young walked, and Hank Blalock and Andruw Jones singled. Raffy then threw away a double-play ball from Nelson Cruz that scored both runs.
Down 2-1 entering the third, Blake had a great at-bat that put the Dodgers in the lead for good. With a 3-2 count, he launched a Derek Holland pitch over the left field fence for a three-run shot, putting the Dodgers up 4-2.
That was more than enough for Bills, as his only other blemish of the day was a solo shot to Jones, who's still fat and a terrible player. Anyway, he ended up throwing seven innings, giving up three runs (two earned), five hits, one walk, and three strikeouts. The strikeouts are low, but that's because we're so used to seeing him K plenty more.
Bottom line - he got the job done.
Blake carried the offense on this day, going 2-for-4 with a homer, double, and four RBIs. Ausmus got the start at catcher and reached base all three times, picking up and RBI single. He's hitting .317 this year, and with Russell Martin still trying to figure things out at the plate, should be getting more starts in the near future.
This was a good series win for the Dodgers, as they battled back from losing pretty easily on Friday to get both weekend games. Saturday they had to break a late tie with Matt Kemp's big two-run homer, and Sunday they battled back from the early deficit. They just continue to play solid ball and find ways to win.
Monday is an off day, and Tuesday will be the start of a three-game series home against the Oakland A's. Clayton Kershaw is up first, and he looks to bounce back from a horrific start against the Padres last week.
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