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Wolf strikes out 11 as Dodgers top Reds

May 12, 2007 - 6:25 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- With his best performance Randy Wolf kept the Los Angeles Dodgers rolling against the Cincinnati Reds.

Randy Wolf struck out 11 batters in seven innings and Russell Martin provided the offense as the Dodgers continued their domination over the Reds with a 2-0 victory in Friday's opener of a three-game series.

Nomar Garciaparra went 3-for-3 for the Dodgers, who have won seven straight against the Reds dating to the start of the 2006 season.

The Dodgers won all six meetings with the Reds last year, sweeping the season series for the first time since moving to Los Angeles in 1958. They had not won seven in a row vs. Cincinnati since August 10, 1996-May 5, 1997.

"We just seem to play good against those guys," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "Randy pitched an amazing game tonight for us."

Wolf (4-3), who signed with Los Angeles as a free agent over the winter after his last two seasons in Philadelphia were cut short by elbow problems, yielded just four hits and walked none to snap a personal two-game slide.

"It's definitely good to get back on the winning track again," Wolf said. "Just wanted to go out their tonight and get in a good rythm."

After winning three straight decisions from April 8-20, the lefthander was 0-2 with a 6.35 ERA over his previous three starts.

"I've been working on my mechanics lately and it seemed to pay off for me tonight," Wolf said. "I know that they have a good offensive team so I just wanted to make quality pitches."

Wolf struck out the side in the fourth on his way to tying the second-highest strikeout total of his career and improving to 6-2 in 12 career starts against the Reds. It also was the most strikeouts by a Dodgers lefthander since Fernando Valenzuela in 1987.

"It's not my type of game to go out their and strike guys out," Wolf said. "I just try to throw strikes and let my defense help me out."

Wolf fanned 13 batters for Philadelphia against Cincinnati on September 21, 2002.

"He had all of his pitches working for him today and he got good late movement tonight," Martin said.

The 30-year-old was so dominant, he allowed just one runner to reach second base - a leadoff double by Juan Castro in the fifth.

Jonathan Broxton logged the eighth and closer Takashi Saito worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth to complete the four-hit, 13-strikeout combined performance and post his 11th save.

Martin plated both of his team's runs with a bases-loaded single in the first inning off tough-luck loser Bronson Arroyo (2-3), who was charged with two runs and six hits in six innings with four walks and two strikeouts.

"I knew with a guy like Arroyo pitching you have to score off him early before he settles in," Martin said. "I got a pitch up in the zone and hit it hard."

Arroyo received just 10 runs of support in five winless starts in April before winning his first two outings of May.

"I just didn't have my control early on," Arroyo said. "Got myself into a tough spot in the first inning and had to try to get my way out of it."

Juan Pierre started the rally with a one-out single, advanced to second on a walk to Garciaparra and moved to third on a two-out walk to Luis Gonzalez.