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Diamondbacks' bullpen holds off Dodgers

Apr 25, 2008 - 7:11 AM By Jonathan Raber PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The Arizona Diamondbacks' bullpen allowed just one unearned run over 3 2/3 innings to preserve a 6-4 victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night.

Juan Cruz, Chad Qualls and Tony Pena bridged the gap to closer Brandon Lyon, who pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save of the season, preserving the win for starter Edgar Gonzalez (1-1).

Gonzalez surrendered three runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings, walking two while striking out one to earn his first win of the season.

"I feel great right now because the last three games I hadn't won, but I was throwing good," said Gonzalez, whose last win also came against the Dodgers on September 16, 2007.

The victory was already the Diamondbacks' fourth in five games against the National League West-rival Dodgers this campaign.

"Obviously it's early, we haven't played a whole lot of games but, for me, the importance is the confidence thing," Diamondbacks left fielder Jeff Salazar said. "We know coming in we are (3-1 against the Dodgers), so it's a good start. It's just one of those mental things."

Salazar belted a two-run home run in the second inning and Conor Jackson had two hits and drove in a pair of runs for the Diamondbacks, who were inconsistent against Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley (0-4).

The 23-year-old righthander suffered yet another loss, allowing five runs and six hits but struck out a career-high 12 in six innings.

"I need to find a way to get over the hump and figure something out," Billingsley said.

Arizona, which already holds a 5-1/2 game lead in the NL West, jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Chris Young led off the game with a single and scored three batters later on Jackson's single.

The Dodgers evened the score, 1-1, in the bottom of the frame on Jeff Kent's RBI double down the left-field line.

Salazar's second homer of the season gave the Diamondbacks a 3-1 advantage in the second inning.

The blast was Salazar's fourth career home run and the first coming outside of a pinch-hit situation. The 27-year-old got the start in place of Eric Byrnes, who sat out his first contest of the season with what he referred to as "leg issues."

"That's the job of the fourth outfielder guy, I guess," Salazar said. "That's my job - to step in. I'm going to try to contribute that day and be productive."

The lead only lasted two innings, though, as Los Angeles battled back with two runs in the fourth to tie the score.

Arizona took the lead for good in the fifth when Young scored on a wild pitch by Billingsley before Jackson plated Stephen Drew with a fielder's choice.

Kent's second RBI of the game in the seventh narrowed the Dodgers' deficit to 5-4 but Justin Upton's sacrifice fly one inning later sealed the victory for the Diamondbacks.

"We had plenty of opportunities, we had the right guys at the plate, we just couldn't deliver," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "But we kept fighting back. We just need to be able to minimize as much damage as possible and tonight we weren't able to do it."