Ted Lilly needed one more good start to reach double digits for the ninth straight season. James Loney made sure he did just that.
Loney homered for the second straight night, Kemp reached 100 runs and 40 steals, and the Dodgers slapped around the Pirates, 6-1. The Dodgers have taken two of the first three with one game to go.
After Lilly got the Pirates in order with a couple of strikeouts to start the game, the offense went to work. Dee Gordon singled leading off, but was quickly erased on the bases. Justin Sellers drew a walk, and an out later, Juan Rivera singled. Loney gave the Dodgers an early 3-0 lead with a three-run shot to right, his 11th of the season.
The Pirates scored their only run of the night in the second. Lilly issued two straight walks to Derrek Lee and Ryan Ludwick to open it up. A flyout by Brandon Wood got Lee to third, and Josh Harrison delivered an RBI double to make it 3-1.
That was as close as the Pirates would get, as the Dodgers played longball again in the third. Kemp started it off with a single. Rivera then smacked a two-run shot, and it was now 5-1. It was Rivera's 10th homer of the season, and fourth with the Dodgers. It all gave Kemp a nice, round 100 runs.
The young guns got into the act in the fifth to close out the scoring. Well, old man Aaron Miles was the first to reach on an error by Wood at third. Sands then singled for two on. Tim Federowicz, acquired at the trade deadline for prospect Trayvon Robinson, had his big league moment with an RBI single to make it 6-1.
Once Lilly exited after seven innings, Nathan Eovaldi struggled in the eighth. The Pirates loaded the bases on singles by Chase d'Arnaud and Andrew McCutchen, and a plunking of Lee, all with one out. Out went Eovaldi, who's clearly struggling after transitioning to the bullpen, and in came Kenley Jansen. Two strikeouts of Ludwick and Garrett Jones later, the threat was over.
Mike MacDougal pitched the ninth, and despite allowing a couple of runners, didn't allow a run.
There were plenty of positive happenings in this game. Lilly went seven innings for four hits, one run, two walks, and seven strikeouts. He went through a horrendous couple of months in June and July, but posted a 2.35 ERA in August and 3.12 in September. His ERA has gone down from 5.02 to 4.27 in the process.
In addition to Kemp getting that one more run and steal, a couple more hits raised his average to .317. For MVP purposes, I'm sure he'd like to bump that up to .320, as well as up his homers from 33 to 35. He could go o'fer the rest of the season and still have awesome numbers, but a late push for those voters would be huge.
Rivera continues to quietly be a good addition. He's now played in 53 games for the Dodgers and is hitting .283 with four homers and 37 RBIs. I'm sure he'd like to have a little more power than that, but I didn't expect him to even hit that high, especially since he was hitting .243 for the Blue Jays before coming over. Still, he's a decent power threat for a team that needs power, so I can see him being brought back next season.
Finally, there's Loney, who has put the game away for the second straight night with a three-run jack. The knock on him his whole career has been a strange lack of power, especially for a tall guy with a seemingly good swing. His defense has always been sharp, to his credit. I'm not sure anyone will ever be able to figure him out, as he either appears red hot or ice cold at a moment's notice.
With the organization in such a mess right now, it's hard to see someone like Prince Fielder being signed to a huge deal in the offseason to play first base. So, after looking like absolute garbage for much of the season, Loney could realistically be resigned again for next year.
The Dodgers finish their set against the Pirates with an afternoon game on Sunday. Chad Billingsley will look to get over the .500 mark with his 11th win.
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