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Penny, Pierre combine to sink Nationals

May 30, 2007 - 4:34 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Brad Penny and Juan Pierre made sure the Los Angeles Dodgers hit the road in style Tuesday.

Penny allowed four hits in 6 1/3 innings and Pierre had a career-high four extra-base hits as the Dodgers defeated the Washington Nationals, 10-0, on Tuesday to kickstart their 10-game road trip.

The righthanded Penny (7-1) allowed a walk and struck out four to run his scoreless innings streak to 13, and he tied for the NL lead in wins with Philadelphia's Cole Hamels, Atlanta's John Smoltz and San Diego's Jake Peavy.

"He just pitched like he's been pitching all season," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "He mixed his pitches. He's not trying to overpower everyone. He's doing it with a lot less effort and he's getting very good results.

"He's not worried about (overpowering hitters) anymore. He's worried about getting people out. He's proud when he gets them out on one or two pitches. He's proud when he gets a double-play ball. That's all a part of maturation."

Penny, who wasn't very talkative, downplayed his performance.

"I just threw strikes with all three of my pitches," he said.

Penny was also impressive in his last start, tossing seven scoreless innings in a 5-1 victory over Milwaukee on Wednesday. He lowered his ERA to 2.06, second best in the majors, behind Peavy (1.47).

Penny also went 2-for-2 at the plate with a ground-rule double and scored a run.

"I guessed right," he said.

Pierre had three doubles and a triple for the Dodgers, who won for the fifth time in six games.

"We got jump-started there with Juan Pierre having a great day for us and the pitching was outstanding," Little said. "There was some good hitting going on and good pitching. That's real good for winning games."

"Anytime you have a night like that you'll be able to slow the pitches down and see the ball real good," Pierre said. "It was just one of those nights where I was hitting the fastball, the curveball, his changeup - I hit every pitch good. It's one of those nights you've got to take advantage of."

The center fielder led off the game with a triple and came around to score on Nomar Garciaparra's single.

In the third inning, Pierre's double to right-center field scored rookie Tony Abreu and his double in the fifth put runners on second and third with two outs.

The lead runner in the fifth was Penny, whom Pierre chastised for potentially costing him an RBI.

"Oh, man, I was giving him crap on the second one because I can go a month without a RBI," Pierre said. "My RBIs are too far in between so I was trying to get all I could tonight. That's a month worth of RBIs if I get three RBIs in a night."

The Dodgers were unable to capitalize on that situation, but Luis Gonzalez made sure it didn't matter. Gonzalez's three-run home run off Nationals reliever Winston Abreu highlighted a six-run seventh inning to salt the victory. Ryan Zimmerman's throwing error allowed Penny and Pierre to score earlier in the inning.

"Without a doubt everything was clicking as far as using line-to-line, hitting the ball down the left-field line and the right-field line, hitting with men in scoring position," Pierre said. "It was probably the best I've felt at the plate as a Dodger.

Washington's Jason Simontacchi (2-3) took the loss, allowing 11 hits and six earned runs in 6 1/3 innings. The righthander, and for that matter, the Nationals had been faring well as of late.

In his last outing, Simontacchi surrendered just one run and four hits in 5 1/3 frames in a 12-7 win over the Cincinnati Reds. As for the Nationals, they had won 12 of their last 17 games, including five of six, prior to Tuesday's lopsided loss.

"Too much for us today - dominant," Nationals manager Manny Acta said of Penny. "Command of every one of his pitches and they are above average pitches, every one of them. ... We had no chance."