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Rookie Carlos Monasterios continued his era of good feeling with the longest outing of his career, and Blake DeWitt and the Dodger offense gave him all the support he would ever need, giving the Dodgers a comfortable 12-4 win over the Cardinals. After six one-run games out of seven last week, it was nice for the Dodgers to be on the right side of a one-sided game. It was the Dodgers' first win by more than three runs since May 18.
Monasterios allowed three runs in his six innings, throwing a career-high 86 pitches in the process. He wasn't overpowering at all, inducing only one swinging strike all night. Monasterios became just the 40th Los Angeles Dodger starting pitcher to win a game without striking out a single batter. The last Dodger to pull off that feat was Brad Penny, who beat the Giants on August 8, 2008. The Cardinals were hitting everything they swung at from Monasterios, but just about everything found its way into a Dodger glove, other than two solo home runs by Ryan Ludwick.
DeWitt, mired in an 0-for-17 slump as recently as last week, broke out with a career-high five runs batted in. DeWitt hit a three-run home run off the right field foul pole in the fifth inning for his first home run of the season, and added a run-scoring single in the fourth inning and a bases-loaded sacrifice fly (a few feet from his first grand slam) in the seventh inning. In his career, DeWitt has batted 17 times with the bases loaded, and has driven in a run 13 times, hitting .583/.588/.833. DeWitt even made a spectacular defensive play, making an over-the-shoulder catch for the second out of the ninth inning.
Appearing for one night only, Jon Link pitched the final two innings, providing a lift to a Dodger bullpen that threw 27 1/3 innings last week. Both teams got some bullpen relief, as P.J. Walters took one for the team pitching four innings in relief of losing starter Blake Hawksworth. Both Hawksworth and Walters pitched four innings, allowed seven hits, six runs, and three walks.
Notes
- Every Dodger starting position player scored at least one run tonight, the first time the club has had all eight starting position players score a run since April 20, 2007
- Rafael Furcal had a pair of hits, and stole his first base since returning from the disabled list, and ninth overall.
- A.J. Ellis executed a perfect squeeze bunt in the fourth inning, a bunt so good he got a single out of it. Ellis has made 12 starts in his career, and he has an RBI in eight of those games, including seven of nine starts this season.
- The Dodgers have won all four Monasterios starts this season
- Ramon Ortiz cleared waivers and is now a free agent, reports Dylan Hernandez of the LA TImes
Hiroki Kuroda faces Chris Carpenter tomorrow night. George Sherrill will be activated from the disabled list.
WP - Carlos Monasterios (3-0): 6+ IP, 4 hits, 3 runs, 3 walks, 0 strikeouts
LP - Blake Hawksworth (0-3): 4 IP, 7 hits, 6 runs, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts