On a night where the Lakers blew out the Celtics to force a Game 7 in the NBA Finals, the Dodgers got in on the fun as well. A 3-0 lead pre-rain delay turned into a 12-0 demolition of the Reds. The Padres won as well, so their lead is still 1/2 game in the NL West.
The offense wasted little time in hitting around Aaron Harang. Rafael Furcal began his five-hit night with a double leading off. Russell Martin drew a walk next. Following a pop-up by Andre Ethier, Manny Ramirez hit an RBI single. James Loney then hit an RBI double, and Matt Kemp a sac-fly RBI to make it 3-0.
With Hiroki Kuroda putting up blanks, that score stood up until the rain delayed fifth inning. Raffy and Ethier singled for Manny's at-bat, who then had to wait awhile before it actually happened. When it did, he hit an RBI single off of new pitcher Logan Ondrusek. RBI singles by Loney and Casey Blake came next, and it was 6-0.
The Reds blew a bases loaded opportunity in the fifth when Brendan Phillips fouled out to left. They also put two men on in the seventh and eighth, but came up empty. It was one of those nights where the Dodgers got all the clutch hits, something that sorely eluded them against the Angels.
In the seventh, Manny connected on a two-run homer to make it 8-0. Ramon Troncoso of all people got on RBI on the always heroic bases loaded walk. Raffy continued his hot night with a two-run single, and it was 11-0. The last run came in the eighth when Kemp got an RBI on a groundout.
Just two days after a frustrating sweep against the Angels, not even the rain delay could deny the Dodgers on this night. They collected 19 hits and five walks, and constantly put the pressure on the Reds' pitching staff.
Kuroda was awesome, going five innings for three hits, no runs, two walks, and eight strikeouts. He even pitched an inning after the rain delay, no doubt eyeballing a win. I can't blame him, and it worked.
Troncoso pitched a couple of scoreless innings in relief. George Sherrill had one scoreless inning, but still gave up two hits. We're all still waiting for him to come around, but it sure doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon. I hope I'm wrong. Justin Miller finished the game by striking out two.
After the Sunday game, I talked about the really tough rest of June the Dodgers have. Well, they obviously got off to the best start possible. It's only one game, but they needed to get some swagger back, and they did. They'll need that momentum going forward in Boston.
Wednesday's pitching matchup will be great. Clayton Kershaw goes against Mike Leake. For those of you that don't know, Leake totally bypassed the minors and has been dazzling in the majors so far. Kershaw has a 3.13 ERA. This will be fun.
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