Dodgers, Hiroki Kuroda make Kirk Gibson an easy winner in his managerial debut with 12-5 victory
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Kirk Gibson, greatest manager in the history of the universe.
Hiroki Kuroda, suddenly struggling starting pitcher?
For one night, all things were possible, although Kuroda suddenly doing his Ramon Ortiz imitation might have had a little something to do with Gibson looking like a genius in his managerial debut.
Certainly, Kuroda was not anywhere near his usual game in Friday’s 12-5 loss to the Diamondbacks in Phoenix.
Unless you count giving up six earned runs in less than two innings to be typical Kuroda.
The right-hander couldn’t get out of the second inning, getting pounded with eight hits and allowing two walks.
The only thing that makes it a slight concern, is this was Kuroda’s second consecutive poor outing. He also struggled in his last start against the Yankees, and in his last two starts he has a 12.86 ERA and has allowed 15 hits in seven innings.
After sweeping the Giants, the Dodgers had every right to believe they’d come to Phoenix and continue their newfound winning ways. They were 5-1 against last-place Arizona coming into Friday.
The Diamondbacks organization was so fed up with losing that on Thursday both manager A.J. Hinch and General Manager Josh Byrnes were fired. That’s always a confusing double play. Was the trouble the bad players the GM provided or the poor performance the manager got out of them?
Gibson, the legendary hero who gave the 1988 World Series champion Dodgers their signature moment with his ninth-inning, pinch-hit home run in Game 1, had been Arizona’s bench coach before being named interim manager.
The Diamondbacks responded quickly Friday, scoring three runs in each of the first two innings to chase Kuroda (7-6).
Jeff Weaver followed and gave up another three runs in third.
The Dodgers showed some life against eight-walks, no-hit Edwin Jackson. They scored four runs off Jackson, two on a Blake DeWitt base hit in the second, one in the third on a James Loney single, and one more in the fifth on another Loney single.
Jackson had thrown 149 pitches in his no-hitter against Tampa Bay in his last start, so after five innings Friday, Gibson went to his bullpen to hold the lead.
Which normally would be like trying to hold nitroglycerin on a roller coaster.
The bullpen had already blown eight leads inherited from starters, but that was way back before Gibson was the manager.
Four relievers held the Dodgers to one additional run, Chris Young added a three-run homer in the seventh to finish with five RBI, and Gibson was a perfect 1-0 as a manager.
-- Steve Dilbeck