One day after scoring 10 runs, the Dodgers' offense reverted back to form. That is, not very good, as in only scoring two runs. Fortunately for them, the guys on the mound led the way.
Hiroki Kuroda went seven scoreless innings, and Matt Guerrier and Vicente Padilla teamed up to close the door late as the Dodgers beat the Pirates, 2-0. That's two straight for them as they are now two games in back of .500. Hey, you have to start somewhere.
The game featured only nine hits, with five of them by the visiting team. Kuroda was matched up with an improving Paul Maholm. His record is 1-5, but he can thank his lousy team behind him for that. His ERA of 3.50 proves that he has no luck.
Nothing much was doing for either team until the Dodgers scored the game's only runs in the sixth. Ivan DeJesus, hitting in the #2 hole, walked leading off. Like most rallies, it quite often can get traced back to an early walk, and such was the case here. Andre Ethier legged out an infield single and Matt Kemp took a walk of his own to load the bases.
Up came Juan Uribe, and I had a sinking feeling that a double play ball was coming next. Of course, I was right, but thankfully it still pushed a run in to make it 1-0. Rod Barajas was given the intentional walk to pitch to Jerry Sands, who then ripped an RBI double for the 2-0. Choke on that, Clint Hurdle!
From there, it was all about Kuroda, as he was locked in from the start. The first hit of the night he surrendered wasn't until Brandon Wood's blooping single in the fifth. In the sixth, Xavier Paul singled and Lyle Overbay walked, and both advanced on a wild pitch with two outs. Kuroda then got Chris Snyder swinging for the last big out.
Guerrier pitched the eighth and got through the top of the Pirates' order with ease. Padilla gave up a two-out double to Pedro Alvarez, but struck out Wood to end the game. It's his third save in as many chances.
Don Mattingly got exactly what he wanted out of this one: a strong start from Kuroda, and his top bullpen guys closing it out. With Jonathan Broxton out, the roles have pretty much been settled into Padilla closing, Guerrier setting up, and guys like Blake Hawksworth, Kenley Jansen, and Hong-Chih Kuo coming before that. They still have a ways to go to improve their ugly numbers, but tonight was a great step.
As for Kuroda, he continues to quietly go about his business and get the job done. Tonight he went seven innings with three hits, no runs, three walks, and eight strikeouts. I'm not sure many people outside of Dodger fans (and fantasy buffs) really know much, if anything, about this guy. But for those of you in the know, you appreciate just how solid he is. The Dodgers will miss him after this year when he will most likely call it a career.
After Monday's letdown, I said that the next few games were really big for the Dodgers. So far, they've responded very well. They got late runs on Tuesday to run away with that one, and stayed on top in a close one today. If they're ever going to get back into the division race, they have to beat teams like the Pirates. There's just no other way about it.
The final game of the series will be on Thursday night. Jon Garland will toe the rubber. He's had four great starts in a row, but only has one win to show for it.
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