Matt Kemp’s three-run home run ignites rare laugher for Dodgers, 10-3
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As formulas go, it’s nothing fancy. Basic stuff. Get strong starting pitching, play solid defense and count on the middle of the lineup to drive in enough runs to squeak out a victory.
It’s the 2011 Dodgers, and if their formula has been found lacking more than they’d like, it worked just fine Tuesday in a 10-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
It came together to leave the Dodgers with that rarest of rarities, a blowout victory.
Ted Lilly gave them the strong starting pitching, going six innings and holding Pittsburgh to two runs and four hits.
Andre Ethier ended a scoreless game in the top of the sixth inning with a line-drive single and Matt Kemp followed with a three-run home run.
Their offensive floodgates opened, the Dodgers added six runs, making it the first time in 14 games they scored more than five runs in a game.
Kevin Correia (5-3) matched Lilly (3-3) through five innings, before Jamey Carroll’s third hit ignited a two-out rally in the sixth. Aaron Miles followed with a bunt down the third base line that went for a hit.
Ethier, whose hitting streak may be over but who has reached base in 34 consecutive games, sent his hit to center field to drive in Carroll.
Kemp, who had one hit in his previous 19 at bats, then drilled his seventh home run to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead.
The Pirates got two runs back against Lilly in the bottom of the inning, but Rod Barajas doubled and scored on a single by Jerry Sands off the foot of Correia in the seventh.
The Dodgers blew it open with five runs the next inning. Ethier and Kemp singled before Juan Uribe, mired in a one-for-20 slump, bounced a single into right field to drive in Ethier.
A James Loney walk loaded the bases, and Chris Resop walked Sands to force in a run. Resop is what you might call inconsistent. He then walked reliever Matt Guerrier, who came to the Dodgers from the Minnesota Twins and hadn’t batted since 2005, to force in another run.
Miles’ single drove in two runs and the Dodgers had a rout. The Dodgers, who were four for 43 with runners in scoring position in the first four games of the trip, were six for 15 on Tuesday.
It was hardly all good news for the Dodgers, however. Their battered bullpen took another blow when right-hander Blake Hawksworth left the game in the seventh because of a strained right groin.
-- Steve Dilbeck