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Billingsley earns first career shutout for Dodgers

Jul 31, 2008 - 6:13 AM By Jonathan Raber PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Chad Billingsley earned his first career shutout as the Los Angeles Dodgers claimed a 4-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday.

Russell Martin drove in a pair of runs and Matt Kemp scored two runs and stole a pair of bases for the Dodgers, who have won nine of their last 13.

Billingsley (11-9) was in top form, pitching the Dodgers to their fourth shutout in the five games while earning his team-leading 11th victory.

"When I look back, in spring training, he didn't pitch that well. He looked like he was fighting himself," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "Give him the ball now, it gets to the point where you expect him to do something like this because he is so businesslike out there."

The 24-year-old righthander allowed five hits and struck out eight without issuing a walk to earn his second consecutive victory and seventh in nine starts.

"Confidence is big, it's just a matter of going out there and doing it," said Billingsley, who has a 2.21 ERA in the last nine outings. "A big thing with me is command of the fastball, staying down in the zone -- it just makes my off-speed pitches that much better."

Billingsley escaped trouble twice in the ninth to preserve the shutout. Jose Castillo hit a ball that appeared to land just beyond the right field fence, but bounced back into play for a stand-up double. Randy Winn followed with a single to left, but Andre Ethier threw out Castillo at the plate to end the game.

"Andre made a great throw and (Russell Martin) blocked the plate great," Billingsley said. "Weird way to end a game for a shutout, but I'll take it."

It was the second shutout in as many nights for the Dodgers, who blanked the Giants over the final 23 innings of the three-game series. San Francisco scored seven runs in the first four innings of the opener, but struggled to get the bats going the rest of the way.

Martin, who put the Dodgers on the board with an RBI single in the first, struck again in a fifth. After Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez (8-7) walked Kemp and Casey Blake to open the frame, Martin plated Kemp with a base hit up the middle.

Jeff Kent followed with an RBI double and James Loney capped the inning with a sacrifice fly to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead.

"We got some big hits when we needed to, got ahead early, and I was able to stay aggressive and keep pounding the zone with strikes," Billingsley said.

Sanchez is winless in six career starts against the Dodgers after allowing four runs and five hits, while walking four in four innings.

"Right now, I'm just throwing too many pitches, walking a lot of guys," Sanchez said. "It's been hard for me to get it in the (strike) zone."