Five double plays into the game, the Dodgers had to think getting a runner on base was a curse.
A huge two-out rally took care of all of that.
The Dodgers scored four runs all with two outs in the eighth, shocking the Diamondbacks for the win, 5-4. With another win by the Rockies, the lead in the NL West remains at 3 and 1/2 games.
To say this win was unexpected would be an understatement. The Dodgers were embarrassingly bad with runners on for the first seven innings. Time and time again, they would find a way to ground into the dreaded double play. But when they need it the most, their bats came alive.
The game started off promising enough, as Rafael Furcal singled to right to lead off. Andre Ethier then hit a double into the gap in left to get the Dodgers up, 1-0.
Chad Billingsley, however, would not be able to hold it, as he suffered through a rocky start. Still in the first, a single by Stephen Drew and double by Gerardo Parra put two on. Two sac-fly RBIs later, the DBacks were up, 2-1.
Unfortunately for Bills, he would be victimized by the hot bat of Billy Buckner. Yes, that would be the starting pitcher for the DBacks. On the night, he went 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs. Perhaps he should consider hitting everyday considering his ERA stands at 7.38 (and that's including his seven innings of one run ball last night).
In the second, Buckner got his first RBI with a single to score Brandon Allen. In the sixth, he hit a two-out double that plated Augie Ojeda, and it was 4-1.
When you factor in the Dodgers hitting into double plays in the second, third, fourth, sixth, and seventh, it was pretty easy to write them off for the night. The best thing that could have happened was Buckner exited, and the DBacks' bullpen was terrible.
After getting Orlando Hudson to groundout to start the eighth, Blane Boyer entered and surrendered a single to Russell Martin. Juan Pierre pinch-hit, hit a grounder, and just avoided DP number six. His hustle turned out to save the game for the Dodgers.
Furcal singled with two down, and the hit parade was then on. Matt Kemp and Ethier hit consecutive RBI singles, Manny Ramirez walked, and James Loney's RBI singled made it 4-4. The Dodgers then got a bit of luck as Ronnie Belliard chopped one to short that Drew slipped on and could make no play, scoring the go-ahead run at 5-4.
Hong-Chih Kuo and Jonathan Broxton then came on and made sure the lead would stay. Kuo gave up a single to Miguel Montero to start, but got a couple of groundouts to end the inning. Broxton also gave up a single, but a meaningless one with two outs, as he recorded his 34th save.
While Billingsley wasn't anything special with four runs in six innings, the bullpen was money once again. James McDonald struck out the side in the seventh to get the win, in addition to Kuo and Broxton's great efforts. They did their part while the offensive finally figured it out.
This is one of those games that brings you back to the first half of the season where pretty much everything went right. It seems like it's been a little bit since getting a win like this, so let's hope they can build their momentum and keep the ball rolling.
Even if they were outplayed most of Tuesday's game, they still got the win, in addition to Monday's easy win. Today they go for the sweep, as Jon Garland again goes against his former team and the dangerous Dan Haren. A win over Haren would be great for the offense to show they can play more consistently.
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