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Furcal's homer in the 11th ends Dodgers' six-game slide

Aug 9, 2007 - 10:39 PM CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- Rafael Furcal's power display ended a season-high slump for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Furcal homered with one out in the top of the 11th inning as the Dodgers halted a six-game losing streak with a 5-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in the finale of a three-game series on Thursday.

Furcal drilled a 1-0 pitch from Victor Santos (1-4) over the right field fence, a shot that carried 426 feet.

The shortstop's power was a release of frustration, as he had stranded six runners on base.

"I was frustrated because I left so many runners on base," Furcal said. "I concentrated a little more in that last at-bat. I got a pitch down the middle. I don't know what it was but I put a good swing on it. It made me very excited because of the way we've been playing."

Making his fifth appearance since being acquired from the New York Yankees at the trade deadline, Scott Proctor (1-0) allowed a hit and struck out two in a pair of scoreless innings.

Closer Takashi Saito worked around a leadoff hit by Javier Valentin in the bottom of the 11th for his 28th save.

Along with picking up its first win in a week, Los Angeles did not need long to halt a string of consecutive scoreless innings.

After getting shut out in their previous three games, the Dodgers avoided a franchise-record fourth in a row by scoring in the first inning against Reds rookie Phil Dumatrait.

"Sure something like this can get us started," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "We've been through it before. You can't get ahead of yourself. You can't play tomorrow's ballgame or yesterday's. You have to play the game today."

Furcal worked a walk leading off before Russell Martin and Olmedo Saenz both singled to load the bases. Jeff Kent then ended Los Angeles' futility at the plate with sacrifice fly to to left field.

It was the first run in 29 frames for the National League West club.

Although the Reds tied the score in the bottom half of the first, the Dodgers re-took the lead in the second after rookie Delwyn Young hit a leadoff single, moved to third on a double by Juan Pierre and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ramon Martinez.

The single was apart of a 4-for-4 effort for the 25-year-old Young, who was forced to leave the game in the eighth with cramps in both legs, especially the temperature at the park soared as high as 99 degrees.

"Delwyn Young showed us some good at-bats," Little said. "He left with cramps in both legs. It was heat related. It something you would see more likely in an older player."

Young injured himself legging out a one-out double and was replaced by pinch runner Andre Ethier, who later scored on a single by Martinez to knot the score at 4-4.

Cincinnati, which was looking for its first straight win, grabbed a 3-2 lead in the second when Alex Gonzalez drilled a 1-1 pitch from Brett Tomko to left field for his 16th homer of the season - a two-run shot.

"I wish I could take back the slider that I hung," Tomko said. "He could have just as easily popped it up and I would have told you what a good pitch it was."

That advantage held up until the seventh when Saenz lofted Los Angeles' third sacrifice fly of the game to forge a 3-3 tie.

Pinch hitting for Tomko, Nomar Garciaparra delivered a leadoff single against reliever Eddie Guardado in the seventh, moved to third two batters later on a double by Martin and scored on Saenz's fly ball.

It was the first appearance in nearly a year for the 36-year-old Guardado, who was forced to undergo "Tommy John" surgery just 15 appearances after he was acquired from the Seattle Mariners last season.

"It felt like a century," Guardado said. "My knees were shaking, and the first guy I face is Nomar. It doesn't get much better than that. Next time I go out there, hopefully, I'll get the job done."

The Reds went back in front in the bottom of the seventh on a questionable balk call. With runners on the corners and two outs, the Dodgers' Joe Beimel opted to throw to first base after Jeff Keppinger made a break for second base.

Plate umpire Paul Emmel called the balk, forcing in Norris Hopper from third base to give Cincinnati a 4-3 lead.

"I've never seen a home plate umpire make that call," Beimel said. "I am closed when I come set so I don't need to step much to go to first base."

"I argued the call but I shouldn't have," Little said. "He altered his delivery and they were right on top of it. They called the game right. The saying is you're not as bad as you think when you're going bad and not as good as you think when you're going good."

The Reds were unable to manage much offensive thereafter, hitting into a pair of double plays. In the ninth, pinch hitter Adam Dunn was ejected by Emmel for arguing a called third strike.

In his second major league start, Dumatrait left with a lead after allowing two runs and seven hits in six innings.

"For the first couple of innings, I still had some butterflies, but I calmed down and I thought I threw some quality pitches," said Dumatrait, a first-round pick of the Boston Red Sox in 2002.

"He settled down after the first couple of innings and started using his changeup and breaking ball. It was encouraging," Cincinnati interim manager Pete Mackanin said.