Carlos Monasterios made a successful spot start, Andre Ethier hit a three-run dinger, and the Dodgers cruised to a victory over the Pirates, 5-1. The season series between the two teams is now knotted at 3-3.
Monasterios entered the game with a 1.69 ERA in seven relief appearances. With injuries to Vicente Padilla and Jeff Weaver, Joe Torre had to look for someone to fill the spot left on Saturday. His plan of combining relievers paid off.
Like the night before, the Pirates got off to a good start, only to fall flat as the game progressed. Monasterios walked the first hitter, Akinori Iwamura, probably as he was battling some early game jitters. Russell Martin gunned out Iwamura trying to steal second, though.
James Loney made a nice catch in foul territory off of Andy LaRoche's bat, as Loney had to reach over the railing into the Pirates dugout to make the grab. Andrew McCutchen made people quickly forget about that, as he hit a solo shot to go up 1-0.
The second inning was interesting, as Monasterios struggled to find his command. Lastings Milledge was beaned, and Zack Duke sacrificed him to second. Ronny Cedeno was then hit in the head on a slow curveball (so thankfully no damage done), and Iwamura singled to left to load the bases. LaRoche grounded easily to Casey Blake for the forceout for three outs.
That would be the last real threat of the night for the Pirates, as they only gathered three hits the rest of the way. It should be noted that Garrett Jones sat this one out, as he had a piece of food stuck in his throat the night before, causing a hospital visit. He did make his way to the game, but wasn't used.
The Dodgers got things going in the third. Monasterios is the one who started it, as he singled to lead off. Martin singled an out later to put two on. Ethier then took a low pitch and golfed it out to right, putting the Dodgers up for good at 3-1.
Reed Johnson hit in the leadoff spot, and he added an RBI double in the fourth. The last run was scored on an RBI double from Loney in the seventh.
It was obviously a good night for Monasterios, but he fell just short of getting the necessary five innings for the win. In four innings, he allowed three hits, one run, one walk, two hit batsmen, and two strikeouts. Torre targeted 70-75 pitches for him, and he ended at 73.
Once Monasterios was pulled, it was up to Ramon Ortiz to keep the Dodgers in the lead. And, believe it or not, that actually happened. For the first time as a Dodger, Ortiz looked like a competent pitcher. He went three innings and only gave up one hit, striking out five. Granted, he was playing the Pirates, but he still looked good.
Hong-Chih Kuo and Ramon Troncoso pitched the final two innings. Kuo has had three straight positive appearances, and Troncoso continues to get the ball in any situation. His ERA is down to 3.21.
With Manny Ramirez looking at a few rehab assignments soon, it was Ethier who provided the power last night in his absence. Ethier went 3-for-4 with a homer and two doubles. He's now hitting .350, including a whopping .432 at home.
The win makes two straight over the Pirates after getting shutout on Thursday. I figured the Dodgers would need to take at least three of four in this series, and they've got a game to go. Hiroki Kuroda has been the best starter thus far, and he gets the call today. A win on Sunday would be a great start to the 10-game homestand.
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