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Gorzelanny helps Pirates avoid sweep

Apr 23, 2007 - 1:59 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Tom Gorzelanny helped the Pittsburgh Pirates complete their road trip on a positive note.

Gorzelanny worked six effective innings and Adam LaRoche broke out of a slump as the Pirates averted a three-game sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 7-5 victory.

A surprise in the Pittsburgh rotation, Gorzelanny (3-0) gave up five runs - three earned - and five hits in six innings. The lefthander walked two and struck out six en route to his third straight win.

In helping the Pirates recover from Saturday's extra-inning loss in which Russell Martin hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 10th, Gorzelanny retired 12 of the first 14 batters he faced.

"My stuff was pretty good today," Gorzelanny said. "I just tried to work deep into the game and let my hitters give us a chance to win." Gorzelanny hit a rough spot in the fourth when he faced nine Dodgers batters and allowed two runs before escaping with a one-run lead.

He allowed a leadoff single to Rafael Furcal, a one-out double by Almeado Saenz and a infield single to Luis Gonzalez that scored Furcal. The righthander then walked Russell Martin and Brady Clark to force in a run before getting Wilson Valdez to fly out.

"The fourth inning got to me a little bit, but I was able to battle through it like I knew I would have to," Gorzelanny said. "This is a tough lineup to face and you just have to stick with it." LaRoche, who was mired in a 2-for-34 funk, belted a solo homer in the sixth inning. Nate McLouth also had a run-scoring single in the frame as the Pirates took a 5-2 lead.

"LaRoche's homer was huge for us," Pittsburgh manager Jeff Cox said. "The whole middle of lineup stepped up when they needed to today. This is the first time in a while that we've had any type of sustained offense, and that was they key."

After Jason Bay's two-run double in the seventh gave the Pirates a 7-3 advantage, the Dodgers scored twice in the eighth on a sacrifice fly from Martin and an RBI single by Nomar Garciaparra before Damaso Marte relieved Matt Capps and got the final out of the inning.

Salomon Torres (0-1), who squandered the save chance Saturday in the ninth inning, worked around an error and single in the ninth on Sunday for his fifth save.

"I give Torres all the credit in the world," Cox said. "We haven't made things very easy on him and he still goes out there with his head up high, pitching his heart out."

Brett Tomko (0-1), the only Dodgers starter yet to post a win, allowed five runs - three earned - and eight hits in six innings. The Dodgers lost for just the third time in their last 11 games.

Meanwhile Pittsburgh salvaged the final game of the series and completed a 3-4 road trip. The Pirates will start a nine-game homestand on Tuesday

"This was a huge win for us," said Jose Bautista, who extended his hitting streak to a career-high 10 games with a double in the fifth. "We avoided the sweep and will hopefully take this victory home with us and start the homestand right."