Matt Kemp blooped a walk-off single down the right-field line in the bottom of the tenth inning to score Casey Blake after his leadoff double to give the Dodgers a 1-0 win over the Corpus Christi Hooks Houston Astros at Chavez Ravine Friday night.
The Dodgers failed to close out the game in the ninth inning when presented with a golden opportunity. After Juan Rivera led off the ninth inning with a triple to right-center that just eluded the grasp of centerfielder Jason Bourgeois' dive, the Astros elected to issue two intentional walks to get to the pitcher's spot. Pinch-hitter Tony Gwynn, Jr. struck out swinging. After Jamey Carroll tapped back to pitcher Francisco Rodriguez to force a runner at home for the second out, leadoff hitter Aaron Miles worked a full count only to roll a grounder to second base to end the inning.
The game began as a pitcher's duel. Nathan Eovaldi and Bud Norris matched scoreless frames for six innings. While the Dodgers lifted their young pitcher at that point, Norris notched seven innings while allowing only two James Loney singles and four walks. Eovaldi hurled a career-high six innings, limiting the Astros to no runs and two hits on 86 pitches, despite walking four batters of his own.
After that it became a battle of the bullpens, with the Dodgers relief staff (Matt Guerrier, Mike MacDougal, Javy Guerra and Josh Lindblom) keeping the Astros offense at bay by limiting Houston to one hit over the final four innings, while striking out five, leading to Lindblom's first major league victory.
The Astros' best scoring threat came in the fourth inning, but Eovaldi escaped a bases-loaded, one out jam by inducing a soft line off the bat of J. D. Martinez and a can of corn fly to center field by Jimmy Paredes to end the inning.
WP - Josh Lindblom (1-0): 1 IP, 1 strikeouts
LP - David Carpenter (0-2): 0 IP, 2 hits, 1 run,1 walk
Sv - None
Win Expectacy Graph, courtesy of fangraphs.com
