Yasiel Puig, Dan Haren lead Dodgers over Marlins, 6-5

LOS ANGELES -- The continued maturation of Yasiel Puig and the continued rejuvenation of Dan Haren led the Dodgers to a 6-5 win over the Marlins on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. Puig homered and drove in four runs while Haren battled through early inning struggles to continue his run of quality starts.

Puig in the first inning walked, which isn't news by itself as Puig has improved his walk rate to 11.0 percent in 2014 compared to 8.3 percent in his rookie campaign. But the walk came after an 0-2 count, something Puig has done twice this year after never walking in any of his 69 plate appearances down 0-2 in 2013.

That walk to Puig was one of five walks for Marlins starter Tom Koehler, who saw his streak of 16 consecutive scoreless innings snapped in the second inning after Matt Kemp singled, stole second base and scored on a two-out single by Dan Haren.

Two of Koehler's five walks came in the fourth, and Puig cashed them both in with a two-out blast 442 feet and into the pavilion in left center field. The first-pitch blast turned a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead and gave Puig the team lead in runs batted in.

"We needed that. It seems like it was a little quieter today, after the big series against the Giants that didn't go our way," said Haren. "It was more of a peaceful atmosphere out there until Puig hit that ball. Everyone was fired up after that, and I was determined to keep it right there."

Ramirez followed Puig's blast with a single up the middle to chase Koehler from the game. With 103 pitches in just 3⅔ innings, Koehler is the fourth starter since 1914 with at least 100 pitches in a start of fewer than four innings against the Dodgers, and the first since Russ Ortiz in 2000.

Kemp struck again in the fifth. Buzzed up and in and knocked down on a 3-1 pitch from Henry Rodriguez, Kemp stole second without a throw then scored on a base hit to right field by Andre Ethier.

Ethier was caught stealing, but a double and two walks later Puig found himself at the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. But rather than anxiously trying to duplicate his pregame video game feat, Puig took four pitches outside the strike zone for his second walk of the game and another run, giving the Dodgers a 6-3 lead.

Puig leads the team in walks now (well, tied with Hanley Ramirez and Adrian Gonzalez), too.

"I credit that to my work in the batting cage, a lot of patience at the plate, not rushing my at-bats, taking my time there," Puig said through a translator.

"We've talked about him becoming more and more of an RBI guy as he's been more patient. He gets you to throw strikes," manager Don Mattingly said. "Last year he was more emotional with runners in scoring position. He's been less emotional and more tuned in, not trying to do too much, just trying to get a good pitch to hit."

That offense was more than enough to support Haren, who was shaky early. With one out in the third inning he allowed a home run to Christian Yelich, the first of four straight hits to give the Marlins a 3-1 lead. But Haren escaped further damage thanks to a 3-6-1 double play hit into by Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Starting with the double play, Haren retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced, throwing 92 pitches in his seven innings. Haren got back to keeping the ball down with 11 ground ball outs and pitched his fifth quality start.

"I felt pretty good actually today," Haren said. "I felt better as the game was going along. I wasn't really tight or anything, but I felt looser as the game was going. My body felt through the finish, and I could have kept going."

Haren through eight starts has a 2.84 ERA with 38 strikeouts against just seven unintentional walks. He leads the team with seven quality starts and at 6⅓ innings per start is second only to Clayton Kershaw on the staff in pitching deep into the game.

"It was kind of typical Danny really. He was going to stay in the game, and make his pitches," said Mattingly. "He knows he's going to give up hits, but he just hangs in and keeps us in the game."

Up 6-3 to start the eighth inning, Brian Wilson was summoned in a setup role for his second straight time, but immediately walked Yelich and allowed a two-run home run to pinch hitter Reed Johnson to cut the Dodgers lead to 6-5.

Wilson was left in to record the next two outs, but his 2014 season continues to be a nightmare: 15 games, 11⅓ innings, 16 hits, 14 runs (13 earned), 11 walks, 14 strikeouts, a 10.32 ERA, and opposing batters are hitting .320/.469/.600 against him.

J.P. Howell struck out Saltalamacchia to end the eighth inning, then Kenley Jansen retired the Marlins in order in the ninth for his 12th save to close out the win.

Notes

Monday was the 1,000th game of Kemp's career, making him the 32nd Dodger with 1,000 games played since the franchise joined the National League in 1890.

With Kemp and Ethier (in his 1,180th game), Monday was the first Dodgers game with a pair of 1,000-gamers since Steve Sax (in his 1,048th game) and Pedro Guerrero (1,036) on Aug. 14, 1988.

Puig's career-best hitting streak is now at 12 games, during which he is hitting .408/.500/.694 (20-for-49) with 15 runs batted in.

Drew Butera was 1-for-3 with a walk, and with his fifth inning double tied his personal record with four extra-base hits in a month. Butera has two home runs and two doubles in May, hitting .238/.333/.619 during the month, joining June 2011 (three doubles, one home run)

The base hit by Haren in the second inning was just the second RBI by a Dodgers pitcher this season, and the first since Josh Beckett's successful suicide squeeze bunt on April 9.

The Dodgers drew 10 walks on Monday, two shy of their season high set on May 1 in Minnesota. The Dodgers join the Red Sox and Athletics as the only teams with multiple double-digit walk games on offense this season.

Monday particulars

Home runs: Yasiel Puig (7); Christian Yelich (4), Reed Johnson (1)

WP - Dan Haren (5-1): 7 IP, 7 hits, 3 runs, 2 strikeouts

LP - Tom Koehler (3-3): 3⅔ IP, 6 hits, 4 runs, 5 walks, 1 strikeout

Sv - Kenley Jansen (12): 1 IP, 1 strikeout