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A five-run sixth inning spelled doom for Ted Lilly and the Dodgers Friday night, as they lost their opener with the Astros 7-3. The fourth straight loss pushes the Dodgers to a season-low nine games under .500, a depth they haven't reached since...gulp...the end of 2005, when the Dodgers finished 71-91.
The game was a 1-1 tie through five, and Lilly was cruising along efficiently enough with 67 pitches through five innings. However, two doubles, two singles, and two walks (one intentional) was the worst kind of deuces wild for Lilly, who threw 23 pitches to get one out before being lifted from the game.
The Dodgers scored their first run after Dee Gordon led off the game with the first walk of his major league career. The walk, which came in Gordon's 37th plate appearance, was followed by an Aaron Miles single, a ground out by Andre Ethier, and a sacrifice fly by Matt Kemp to score Gordon. But they didn't really do anything after that, until the ninth inning, when Ethier hit a two-run home run to center.
Myers retired 17 in a row after the Kemp sacrifice fly in the first inning, and retired 21 of 22 batters through the eighth inning. Myers joined Ubaldo Jimenez as the only pitchers to throw a complete game against the Dodgers this season, and Myers needed just 98 pitches to do so. The last pitcher to throw a complete game against the Dodgers with fewer than 100 pitches was Jason Marquis on June 30, 2009. Marquis threw 86 pitches in a shutout on that night.
As bad as it was for the Dodgers tonight, at least they had a better night than Wizards point guard John Wall:
Rubby De La Rosa makes his first regular season start at Dodger Stadium tomorrow night, against Wandy Rodriguez .
WP - Brett Myers (3-6): 9 IP, 4 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), 1 walk, 6 strikeouts
LP - Ted Lilly (5-6): 5 1/3 IP, 8 hits, 6 runs (5 earned), 2 walks, 4 strikeouts