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Billingsley, Dodgers crush rival Giants

Jul 14, 2007 - 6:59 AM SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- Chad Billingsley made sure his undefeated record remained intact.

Billingsley pitched six scoreless innings and held Barry Bonds hitless as the Los Angeles Dodgers posted a 9-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants in the opener of a three-game series Friday.

Billingsley (6-0) allowed just four hits and three walks with two strikeouts in his second-longest outing of the season. The 22-year-old recorded just his second win as a starter since joining the rotation on June 21.

"Chad was outstanding," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "He was especially impressive when he got into jams and was able to pitch out of them."

After giving up a leadoff single by Dave Roberts in the first inning, Billingsley did not allow another hit until Roberts came to the plate again, singling to center in the third.

Bonds went 0-for-2 with two walks but helped produce the Giants' only run when Randy Winn scored on his double-play grounder in the eighth, cutting the deficit to 3-1. Billingsley also forced Bonds to hit into a double play with two on in the first, escaping a jam.

"I made a big pitch to him and it was able to go my way," Billingsley said. "It was a big play. I ended up getting him to hit a ground ball, which I needed."

"We just couldn't get some runs on the board," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We had a couple of chances. We just didn't get the hit when we needed it."

Los Angeles took a 2-0 lead in the third inning as Juan Pierre delivered an RBI single to center and later scored on San Francisco catcher Bengie Molina's throwing error.

All-Star Russell Martin, who went 3-for-3, gave the Dodgers some breathing room in the fifth with an RBI single to left-center, making it 3-0. Martin has nine hits in his last five games.

"When you get on base, some guys on the team are going to have good days, and tonight it seemed like everybody was swinging the bat pretty well," Martin said. "It's just fun to see all the young guys coming together finally and mixing in with the veterans. It seems like teams that are successful have a mix of veterans and young guys, and that's what we have here."

Andre Ethier's three-run double capped a six-run ninth, which sealed the win for the Dodgers.

"We just want to get off to a good start and start off this series with a division team we need to beat to stay ahead and regain first place, where we should and need to be," Ethier said.

Giants starter Matt Cain (3-10), who allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings, lost another decision because of a lack of run support. The 22-year-old righthander has lost seven of his last eight decisions despite posting a 3.53 ERA on the season.

"It's not about that," Cain said. "If you don't score runs, you're not going to win, obviously. I've gotten into situations where I might have gotten ahead of guys and didn't put them away, so it's just as much my fault as everyone else's, and we all lose as a team."

The Giants have lost nine straight meetings with the Dodgers at AT&T Park.

"I didn't even realize we'd won nine straight," Martin said. "When you're playing the Giants, you don't think about much, you just think about trying to beat them and playing well. I don't put much thought into a streak or whatever.

"Every day before a game, you don't know what happens, but you just prepare to go out there and win. We've been playing good baseball so far, and we've got to keep doing that."