• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Hillenbrand's sacrifice fly helps Dodgers outlast Nationals

Aug 30, 2007 - 12:34 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Shea Hillenbrand hit a game-winning sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 12th inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers posted a come-from-behind 10-9 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday afternoon.

Jeff Kent had four hits and scored the winning run and James Loney had two hits and drove in four for Los Angeles, which has won four straight to gain ground in the National League playoff race.

With the win, the Dodgers (70-63) cut their deficit to four games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks (74-59) for first place in the National League West. Los Angeles also trails the division rival San Diego Padres (72-59) by just three games for the lead in the wild card race. The Padres host the Diamondbacks Wednesday night.

"No doubt that this was a big win," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "We have good momentum heading down to San Diego."

The Dodgers open a three-game series with the Padres on Friday.

Hillenbrand and Matt Kemp also hit game-tying homers for Los Angeles, which has won eight of nine vs. Washington, including two consecutive home sweeps over the past two seasons.

Washington has lost six in a row to fall into last place in the NL East.

"This was a long one, and would have been good to pull it out and win at least one game this series," Nationals manager Manny Acta said. "The Dodgers are a team that just has to win right now."

In the bottom of the 12th with the score tied at 9-9, Kent led off with a single off reliever Saul Rivera (4-5) before moving to third one out later on a double down the right field line by Russell Martin.

"Jeff played a great game for us," Martin said. "He always plays the game hard and it's something that the younger guys on the team can look up to."

After Loney was intentionally walked to load the bases, Hillenbrand lofted the first pitch he saw into right field, where Austin Kearns had to take a step back before rifling his throw to home plate.

"I just wanted to make sure I got a pitch up in the zone and could get under the ball to lift it to the outfield," Hillenbrand said. "I did what I needed to do and it was a huge, huge win for us."

Kent tagged up and slid head first into home, getting his hand to the plate before catcher Jesus Flores could make the tag.

Dodgers reliever Scott Proctor (3-0) pitched three innings of one-hit ball to remain perfect for Los Angeles. The righthander had been 2-5 with the New York Yankees before being acquired by the Dodgers at the trade deadline for infielder Wilson Betemit.

"He (Proctor) battled and gave us a chance to win the game today," Little said.

Los Angeles rallied several times to earn the hard-fought decision.

"This win feels even better after being able to come back and win it after being down by five runs," Hillenbrand said.

The Nationals, who led by as many as five runs, took a lead in the top of the seventh when D'Angelo Jimenez hit a run-scoring single to give Washington a 9-8 advantage. However Kemp tied the score in the bottom of the frame with an opposite-field solo shot off reliever Luis Ayala to make it 9-9.

Just an inning earlier things looked bleak for the Dodgers.

Washington scored twice in the top of the sixth on a solo homer by Robert Fick and an RBI single by Nook Logan to increase its lead to 8-3 before Los Angeles responded a half-inning later.

With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom half of the sixth, Loney hammered a three-run double down the right field line off Nationals starter Shawn Hill to cut the Dodgers deficit to two. Hill was replaced by Ayala, who surrendered a two-run homer to Hillenbrand to make it 8-8.

"I've been battling lately at the plate and have been hitting a lot of balls hard," Hillenbrand said. "It's good to see some are starting to drop for hits."

Hill allowed seven runs - six earned - and seven hits and a walk while striking out four in 5 1/3 innings. It was the first time all season the 26-year-old righthander has allowed more than three runs in any of his 12 starts.

"I felt like I pitched a good game overall, but that one inning came back to haunt me when I made some bad pitches and they hit me hard," Hill said.

Los Angeles starter Brad Penny, who was looking to become the third National League hurler to gain his 15th victory, surrendered six runs, eight hits and two walks in five innings.

"I just fell behind early in counts and missed with my command today," Penny said. "I definitely need to start pitching better to help the team out."

Washington broke out to a 4-0 lead in the second on RBI singles by Fick and Flores and a two-run single by Logan.

The Dodgers cut the lead in half in the bottom of the frame on a two-run blast by Martin, but an RBI double by Ryan Church in the third gave the Nationals a 5-2 lead.

Loney had a run-scoring single in the fourth before an RBI base hit by Ryan Zimmerman in the fifth gave Washington a 6-3 advantage.