*** UPDATE ***
Game 2 of the doubleheader has been rained out. The Dodgers will now travel to San Francisco as Clayton Kershaw takes on Tim Lincecum on Friday night.
***
Faced with a 4-4 tie going into the ninth inning and facing Nationals' closer Drew Storen, the Dodgers would probably be happy just going to extra innings.
Eight batters and three runs later, the Dodgers continued their late-season surge.
Powered by a huge two-out, two-run double by Tony Gwynn, the Dodgers took the first game of a doubleheader in Washington, 7-4. And with the win, the Dodgers creep even closer to the .500 mark at 70-72.
Early on, the Dodgers looked like they would run away with this one, as they built a 4-0 lead against Chien-Ming Wang. It started in the first on a single by Dee Gordon, who went 4-for-5. James Loney followed with a ground rule double to left. Matt Kemp grounded one sharply to Ryan Zimmerman at third, who then fired home to get Gordon out in a rundown. No matter, as Juan Rivera's two-run double made it 2-0.
Chad Billingsley got through the first easily, then ran into trouble in the second by walking the bases loaded. Thankfully it was Wang up with two down, and he struck out.
The Dodgers scored again in the third, and it was practically a carbon copy of the first. Gordon singled, Loney singled, and Kemp again grounded to third in which Zimmerman gunned down Gordon at home. And once again, Rivera smacked a two-run double, making it 4-0.
That lead would not last long, as Billingsley completely unraveled in the bottom of the third. It all started with a leadoff single by Ian Desmond. An out later, Zimmerman's RBI double made it 4-1. Michael Morse also got an RBI on a double to slash the lead in half. Jayson Werth tied it up on a two-run homer, and we had a brand new game.
Josh Lindblom was summoned already to bail the Dodgers out, and he did just that by getting the last two outs in order to keep the score as is.
Nothing happened over the next five innings, as both bullpens seemed to find their groove. That was until the ninth when Storen came in and the Dodgers seemed to wake up again. Aaron Miles popped up to start, then Jerry Sands was beaned. Rod Barajas singled, but Trent Oeltjen struck out for two down.
From there, the Dodgers turned it on, as Gwynn's two-run double made it 6-4. After he stole third, he scored on Gordon's RBI single up the middle for a 7-4 lead.
That was all Javy Guerra needed, as he shut the Nationals down without any problems to collect his 16th save.
Before getting to the good stuff, I've got to start with another disappointing, and quite frankly, lously, start from Billingsley. For the whatever amount of times, he was given a comfortable lead, and gave it all right back. He lasted only 2 1/3 innings for five hits, four runs, three walks, and two strikeouts. He's lucky it wasn't worse considering he walked the bases loaded in the second.
With a 4.30 ERA and 1.47 WHIP, he continues to fall further and further down the rotation. Forget about him being a #2 guy behind Clayton Kershaw, he looks more like a #4 guy until he proves otherwise. Maybe he's hurt, maybe it's all mental... call it what you want, but he's about as unreliable as you can get.
What was reliable was the phenomenal job by the bullpen. It started with Linblom pitching 2 1/3 innings of scoreless ball. Hong-Chih Kuo walked the only batter he faced, but Matt Guerrier picked him up by getting the next four outs. The last three innings were controlled by scoreless innings each from Kenley Jansen, Mike MacDougal, and Guerra.
Add it all up, and that's 6 2/3 no-hit innings, with only three walks and six strikeouts. On a day where Billingsley stunk it up (again), that performance couldn't have come at a better time. That's more like the 'pen we expected all season long.
The offense picked it up early and late, and they were led at the top by Gordon. Boy is he showing what kind of threat he can be with his legs. I'm already looking forward to seeing what a full season out of him will look like. Rivera and Loney also had big days with two hits each.
The next game was supposed to start about 30 minutes after the end of the first, but as I write this, it's raining and neither Dana Eveland or Ross Detwiler have started warming up. So, it remains to be seen if they'll get it in. Regardless, it's off to San Francisco for three on Friday as the long road trip concludes.
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