Kemp provides the offense, Kuroda the pitching as Dodgers stop three-game skid with 3-0 victory
If hits are going to continue to be in short supply for the Dodgers, they had best make them count.
On a cool Tuesday night, they made their first hit the only one that mattered when Matt Kemp crushed a two-run homer in the first inning.
With right-hander Hiroki Kuroda again in complete command, the Dodgers made that little outburst hold up on the way to a 3-0 victory over the Brewers, snapping a three-game losing streak.
Kemp followed a two-out walk to Andre Ethier in the first inning by sending his team-high eighth home run over the right-field wall.
Milwaukee left-hander Randy Wolf shut the Dodgers down the rest of the night. The Dodgers finished with eight hits.
Kemp had been 0 for 10 when he hit his home run, and 0 for 5 with five strikeouts lifetime against Wolf.
Kuroda (5-3) threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings, holding the Brewers to six hits. He walked two and struck out seven.
It was his second consecutive strong outing. In his last two starts, Kuroda has pitched 14 2/3 innings without giving up a run, while striking out 15.
On a minor historic note, in the eighth inning he was called for the first balk of his four-year career.
The Dodgers had only one other serious scoring opportunity, loading the bases with two outs in the fourth. But Jamey Carroll bounced into a fielder’s choice, leaving the Dodgers three for 31 with runners in scoring position.
Carroll is batting .311, but is just two for 22 with runners in scoring position.
Right-hander Matt Guerrier -- not Vicente Padilla -- came on to pitch the ninth and earn his first save as a Dodger, even though he had thrown an inning Monday.
-- Steve Dilbeck
Photo: Matt Kemp watches his two-run home run clear the fence during the first inning of the Dodgers' 3-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday. Credit: Chris Carlson / Associated Press
The starting pitching has been outstanding. But the team is playing below .500, and the momentum is downward, as the empty seats in the stands, and the rising pressure on Mccourt to sell, sell, sell, mount.
Posted by: California Sun | 05/18/2011 at 03:00 AM
with this offense, 3-0 consistitutes a rout.
Posted by: alanw19 | 05/18/2011 at 04:06 AM
don should take a page from mike scioscia's playbook and get these guys to start running. this team lacks aggressive baserunning. and it's not necessarily stolen bases; it's taking the extra base on hits, tagging up on fly balls, playing hit and run. something needs to be done to jump-start the offense. when you get a leadoff double and the guy is stranded at second by the end of the inning, something is wrong. as with last year, we don't have enough power. we need to manufacture runs the mike scioscia way. man, i wish fox had hired him instead of davey johnson. we'll never get him back.
Posted by: HI Dodger Fan | 05/18/2011 at 11:41 AM
With this win, the record of this playoff contender is now 10th "best" out of 16 teams in the NL. Just ahead of the Mets. That includes being behind Washington and this Milwaukee stinker.
I would not say the starting pitching has been outststanding. Too inconsistent for that. Great one start, clobbered the next. The pen has been worse, of course. And the hits just do not keep on coming. As noted, the legs have been mired in Torreball, as Donnie B would have it.
Add it all up it spells m-e-d-i-o-c-r-e. Nothing to get up about. The true playoff-worthy teams won't include one like this. As if that has to be said. Amazing some swallow this management's proclamations.
Posted by: Native Angeleno | 05/18/2011 at 01:47 PM