Dodgers win again, turning back the Tigers, 6-4

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The Dodgers won again Saturday.The opponent this time was the Detroit Tigers, the same squad the Dodgers beat the night before. The score: 6-4.

Indeed, the preceding paragraph does seem somewhat redundant, but since May 8, when the Dodgers sat in last place in the National League West six games behind San Diego, the team has gone on a surge, winning 12 of 13, and entered Saturday tied for first place in the division.

Since the Dodgers won Saturday, they’re now a half-game ahead of the Padres, who play the Mariners tonight in Seattle.

Regardless of that outcome, the Dodgers have remained consistent in their winning ways, using pitching as the starting point. Saturday, that began with John Ely, who threw six solid innings, giving up eight hits and two earned runs. He gave up both runs in the first inning, but settled from there.

Manny Ramirez’s sacrifice fly in the first inning got the Dodgers on the board and Casey Blake’s solo home run in the second, his sixth of the season, tied the score, and a three-run fourth inning gave the Dodgers the lead.

It began with James Loney singling to left to drive in Matt Kemp from second base. Then, after a Blake single to right, Blake DeWitt hit a triple down the right-field line and into the corner that scored two more runs. For good measure, Kemp added a home run in the fifth inning, his ninth of the season, to put the Dodgers ahead, 6-2.

Ramon Troncoso, on to replace Ely, gave up a home run to Brennan Boesch in the eighth and Jonathan Broxton gave up another run in the ninth on a ground-rule double by Boesch.

But with runners on second and third, Broxton struck out Brandon Inge to pick up his 10th save.

The Dodgers look to sweep the three-game series against Detroit on Sunday (1:10 p.m.). They’ll take the day off Monday, then begin a six-gametrip by facing the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday and then the Colorado Rockies next weekend.

--Baxter Holmes