Matt Kemp led a strong offensive attack by the heart of the batting order, leading the Dodgers to a 9-5 win over Arizona in the opener of a three-game set at Dodger Stadium. Kemp hit a three-run home run in the third inning, making him the fifth fastest National Leaguer ever to join the 25/25 club, and had five RBI on the night.
The top five in the batting order all reached base twice, and numbers two through five all had at least two hits. Andre Ethier had three hits and was hit by a pitch. Aaron Miles had two hits and scored two runs, and Juan Rivera smoked two doubles.
Ted Lilly gave up two solo home runs in a rather uninspired performance. He allowed three runs in his five innings, and picked up his seventh win of the season, but also had more walks (two) than strikeouts (one) for the first time in 34 starts as a Dodger.
Seventh Heaven & Hell For Upton
Justin Upton came into Los Angeles on fire, but was hitless in his first three at-bats on the night, continuing his struggles against the Dodgers this season. He was 1-for-25 heading into the top of the seventh inning, but you can only keep a good man down for so long. Matt Guerrier learned the hard way, as Upton launched a fastball over the wall in dead center for his 21st home run of the season. Upton in his last 10 games has 19 hits in 38 at-bats, with six doubles, a triple, and six home runs.
However, the bottom of the seventh was not as good an inning for Upton. With runners on first and second with one out, Upton badly misplayed a fly ball off the bat of Tony Gwynn Jr., turning an out into one run in and runners on second and third. Then, when Jamey Carroll lofted a fly ball to right field with Dioner Navarro on third base, Upton got nothing on his throw home, which was well up the line, allowing Navarro to score easily. "That was not a good play by Upton. He just about caught the ball flat footed," said an exasperated Vin Scully on the Prime Ticket broadcast. "Now he should be catching on the dead run but he's standing still...Justin Upton is having a bad time out there in right field."
Notes
- The nine runs scored tonight are a season high at home for the Dodgers
- Rafael Furcal had an RBI double and was hit by a pitch, and in his last six games is hitting .364/.500/.500. Are you listening, St. Louis?
- Kemp also made a very nice running catch in center field of a ball over his head off the bat of Willie Bloomquist in the seventh inning
- Eugenio Velez started at second base, and walked and scored a run. However, he was also 0-for-2 and is 0-for-13 on the season.
- From the articles written by both Tony Jackson of ESPN LA and Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, it appears if Hiroki Kuroda is traded we will know about it by sometime tomorrow afternoon.
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Chad Billingsley gets the start on Saturday night, one day after his 27th birthday. Silver slugger Micah Owings gets the start for Arizona
WP - Ted Lilly (7-10): 5 IP, 3 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), 2 walks, 1 strikeout
LP - Josh Collmenter (6-6): 3 2/3 IP, 7 hits, 5 runs, 2 walks, 1 strikeout