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Martin, Dodgers use decisive eighth to down Blue Jays

Jun 22, 2007 - 3:40 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Russell Martin and the Los Angeles Dodgers waited until late in the game to take advantage of one of the American League's toughest relievers.

Martin smacked a go-ahead, two-run double to cap a six-run eighth inning for the Dodgers, who rallied for an 8-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in the rubber contest of their three-game series on Thursday.

It was a rare heated game between the clubs, which traded blowout wins in the first two games of this interleague matchup. Los Angeles won, 10-1, in the series opener, while Toronto recorded a 12-1 drubbing in the middle game.

But in this one, the outcome was in doubt until the decisive eighth. At that point, the Dodgers victimized little-known Blue Jays reliever Casey Janssen (2-1), who had allowed just five runs - four earned - in 38 innings entering the contest.

"The big inning there in the eighth, for those who are paying attention, Janssen has been one of the best relievers in baseball," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "That's very rare. It's unfortunate, but it happens."

In the eighth, lefthander Scott Downs recorded the first out, retiring the lefthanded-hitting Juan Pierre. He then was replaced by Janssen, who matched up with the righthanded Nomar Garciaparra.

However, Janssen could not hold the lead, allowing a single by Garciaparra to start the rally. Jeff Kent then missed his second homer of the game by only inches, hitting the top of the right field wall with a towering fly ball to put runners on second and third.

"I was terrible," Janssen said. "The main thing is, it was a big game for us. We had five outs to go, and I couldn't do it."

After Luis Gonzalez was walked intentionally to load the bases, Martin then stroked a double down the right field line, scoring both Garciaparra and Kent to make it 4-3 and sending Gonzalez to third.

"You know, in that situation, he's going to have to throw strikes, there's no place to put a baserunner. I was just waiting for a pitch that I could do something with," Martin said.

Olmedo Saenz, Matt Kemp, Tony Abreu and Rafael Furcal added RBI hits to cap the outburst, with all the damage charged to Janssen, who yielded six runs, five hits and one walk without recording an out.

"It was a good comeback," Furcal said. "They got a good bullpen. We made some good at-bats and put men on base."

Pierre followed Furcal's single with a lineout, making him 0-for-2 in the inning.

"I made the first two outs of the inning," Pierre said. "Guys had good at-bats throughout the lineup, it was kind of a snowball effect. If that was the inning that I had to do it, I'm glad I did it. I took the outs for the team."

It was the first start of the season for Los Angeles' Chad Billingsley, who had made all 23 of his previous appearances out of the bullpen. The righthander moved into the rotation after veteran Jason Schmidt had season-ending shoulder surgery on Wednesday.

Billingsley struggled, allowing two runs, two hits and three walks while striking out two in just 3 2/3 innings. He was replaced by lefthander Mark Hendrickson, who was used for extended duty after making eight starts this season.

"The main thing is trying to pace myself," Billingsley said. "I didn't want to get burnt out the first 25 pitches, just try to keep the velocity where it was the whole game and get to 65-70 pitches."

Rudy Seanez (4-1) relieved Hendrickson with one out in the seventh, recording two outs to pick up the win. Jonathan Broxton tossed a scoreless eighth and closer Takashi Saito worked a perfect ninth in a non-save situation.

The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the second inning. After a one-out walk to Gregg Zaun, Aaron Hill blasted a two-run homer to right field off Hendrickson.

Los Angeles tied the game in the sixth thanks to Pierre, who started the inning with a double. After Garciaparra popped up weakly to shallow right field, Kent stroked a two-run blast well over the left field wall.

In sixth inning, Hendrickson allowed a booming leadoff double by Matt Stairs. After Troy Glaus flied out to center field, the lumbering Stairs took advantage of Pierre's poor arm and advanced to third.

Frank Thomas was walked intentionally to set up a double play, but Zaun did not oblige, lofting a sacrifice fly for a 3-2 lead.

Shaun Marcum hurled six solid innings for the Blue Jays, who have lost three of their last four games.

"I wasn't locating very well," Marcum said. "I don't know how many first-pitch strikes I threw, but it didn't seem like many. I just tried to battle and keep our team in the game."