After dropping three of the last four at home against the NL Central, maybe hitting the road and playing division teams would be a jolt for the Dodgers.
That sure looked to be the case last night, as Matt Kemp's three-run double in the fourth was the big blow in beating the Giants, 4-2.
The win puts the Dodgers 5 and 1/2 up on the Rockies, who beat the Cubs easily, and 6 and 1/2 on the Giants. Also, the win gives the Dodgers a 31-12 record, the best for any team against their own division in baseball.
The Giants took a 1-0 lead in the second when Travis Ishikawa hit a solo homer to deep right. It could have been more, but Fred Lewis was gunned out trying to steal the batter before.
In the fourth, the Dodgers put themselves in the lead for good. It started when Manny Ramirez singled sharply up the middle on a full count. Following that, Casey Blake and Orlando Hudson drew walks to load the bases. On a 1-0 count, Kemp lined one into the left field corner to clear the bases for a 3-1 lead. Mark Loretta hit an RBI single, and it was 4-1.
That big inning was good enough for Hiroki Kuroda to keep rolling. He finished at 6 and 1/3 innings, six hits, one run, one walk, and two strikeouts. He didn't overpower anyone, but hit location was great and kept the Giants off balance all night.
After Kuroda gave up a one-out single in the seventh, Hong-Chih Kuo and Ronald Belisario came on to get the final two outs. George Sherrill gave up a leadoff double to Edgar Renteria, but three straight groundouts left him stranded.
Jonathan Broxton came on for the save, but it didn't go so smoothly. Bengie Molina hit a long home run to left with one out to make it 4-2. Randy Winn singled up the middle next, but was forced out at second on Fred Lewis' grounder.
With the tying run at bat, Ryan Garko hit a hard grounder up the middle. Juan Castro, who was only in because Hudson tweaked his groin a couple innings before, made a terrific diving stop to easily get Garko at first. A great ending to a big game.
The Dodgers used a basic formula of good pitching, good defense, and clutch hitting to win this one. They really only got a couple of big hits back in the fourth, but it was enough. They turned two double plays, which is something the Giants have been hitting into a lot lately.
Since the lead in the division is still the same with the Rockies' win, there's still plenty of work to be done. Randy Wolf will go tonight. He's opposed by Joe Martinez. I didn't have a clue who this guy was, but then I saw a video of him getting drilled in the head for a Mike Cameron liner from earlier this year, and I remembered. That was just sickening, so it's good to see him back.
No comments:
Post a Comment