Final
Bailey leads Reds over Dodgers 4-2
Aug 29, 2009 - 3:25 AM By JOE KAY AP Sports WriterCINCINNATI(AP) -- Manny Ramirez went down watching.
Right-hander Homer Bailey gave the best performance of his career, holding the NL's top team scoreless for eight innings, and the Cincinnati Reds survived a wild ninth inning that ended with Ramirez striking out, sealing a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.
The Reds won their season-high fifth straight game and remained the NL's only unbeaten team when leading after eight innings, improving to 48-0. This one nearly busted the streak.
Bailey (4-4) allowed seven singles and had a career-high seven strikeouts while going eight innings for the first time in his career. The 23-year-old talked manager Dusty Baker into letting him pitch out of a threat in the eighth, when he retired Ramirez on a fly ball and fanned Casey Blake with two runners aboard.
"I wanted to see the look on his face," Baker said. "I wanted to see his eyes. If I didn't see what I wanted, I was going to get him. He said, 'Hey, man, I really want to get him."'
Once Bailey left, things got crazy.
James Loney led off the ninth with a homer off Nick Masset, who turned it over to closer Francisco Cordero, pitching for the fourth straight day.
Cordero let the Dodgers load the bases with two outs on a walk and two singles. Andre Ethier then swung at a pitch in the dirt that would have been strike three, but the ball skittered away, letting Ethier reach on a wild pitch as a run scored.
Up came Ramirez with yet another chance.
He took a called third strike on the outside corner to end it. Ramirez has gone seven straight games without an extra-base hit, and has only one - a double - in his last 13 games.
"There's no question we need him," manager Joe Torre said. "That's the responsibility he's had for years. Right now, he's just a little out of whack."
Jonny Gomes had an RBI single and a solo homer off Chad Billingsley (12-8), who lasted five-plus innings in another disappointing performance. Billingsley has failed to go six innings in five of his last nine starts, going 3-4 over that span.
"It's definitely frustrating when you're not pitching well late in the season," Billingsley said. "I've just got to keep trying to figure something out."
The Dodgers took two of three in Colorado, their closest pursuer in the NL West, then headed to Cincinnati to play an injury-ravaged team on its best stretch of another lost season. Torre wondered before the game whether there might be a bit of a letdown for the Dodgers coming off their big series against the Rockies.
Then, he watched his team play a few listless innings before getting its chances late.
"We were flat," Torre said. "We caught a little lightning in the bottle at the end."
History was on their side. The Dodgers are 20-4 against the Reds since 2006, their best record against any NL team, and had already pounded Bailey once this season. He got knocked around when he pitched at Dodger Stadium on July 21, giving up a career-high nine runs and eight hits in 2 2-3 innings of a 12-3 loss.
This time, the Dodgers acted like they'd never seen him before.
A turning point came in the sixth, when Bailey - prone to having one bad inning - gave up opening singles by Rafael Furcal and Matt Kemp. He handled the heart of the order by getting a strikeout and two fly balls, including a routine one to right by Ramirez.
"The fastball was there," Bailey said. "That's what has been working the last couple of games."
By contrast, Billingsley was in trouble most of the time. Gomes singled home a run in the second, and Drew Stubbs drove in another with a broken-bat single in the third. He came around on Joey Votto's double. Billingsley escaped a bases-loaded threat in the fifth, but left the game after Gomes led off the sixth with a homer, his third hit of the game.
NOTES: Dodgers RHP Hiroki Kuroda will throw a simulated game Saturday at Great American Ball Park. Kuroda went on the DL after being hit in the head by a line drive Aug. 15. ... The Reds played a videoboard tribute and held a moment of silence for William J. Williams Sr., a former team owner who died during the week. ... The Reds plan to call up LHP Matt Maloney from Triple-A Louisville to start Saturday's game.
- ** CONFIRMED **
NL
LA DODGERS 2
CINCINNATI 4 FINAL
Aug 28 10:19 PM - NL
AT CINCINNATI - SCORING UPDATE
1B/K+WILD PITCH BY ANDRE ETHIER SCORED MARK LORETTA
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, A ETHIER ON FIRST, M KEMP ON SECOND, R
FURCAL ON THIRD, 2 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: LA DODGERS 2
CINCINNATI 4 TOP,9TH
DUE UP FOR LA DODGERS: M RAMIREZ (.307, 1-FOR-4)
Dodgers 2, Reds 4 Top 9, 0 OutsAug 28 10:11 PM - NL
AT CINCINNATI - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY JAMES LONEY (9) TO RIGHT CENTER WITH 0 OUT
IN THE 9TH OFF NICK MASSET.
CURRENT SCORE: LA DODGERS 1, CINCINNATI 4
DUE UP FOR LA DODGERS: R MARTIN (.260, 2-FOR-3)
Dodgers 1, Reds 4 Top 9, 0 OutsAug 28 9:57 PM - NL
AT CINCINNATI - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY JONNY GOMES (16) TO RIGHT CENTER WITH 0 OUT
IN THE 6TH OFF CHAD BILLINGSLEY.
CURRENT SCORE: LA DODGERS 0, CINCINNATI 4
DUE UP FOR CINCINNATI: C MILLER (.333, 0-FOR-1, BB)
Dodgers 0, Reds 4 Bot 6, 0 OutsAug 28 9:04 PM - NL
AT CINCINNATI - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY JOEY VOTTO SCORED DREW STUBBS
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, J VOTTO ON SECOND, 2 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: LA DODGERS 0
CINCINNATI 3 BOTTOM,3RD
DUE UP FOR CINCINNATI: B PHILLIPS (.257, 0-FOR-1)
Dodgers 0, Reds 3 Bot 3, 0 OutsAug 28 8:01 PM - NL
AT CINCINNATI - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY DREW STUBBS SCORED CORKY MILLER
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, D STUBBS ON FIRST, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: LA DODGERS 0
CINCINNATI 2 BOTTOM,3RD
DUE UP FOR CINCINNATI: P JANISH (.222, 0-FOR-1)
Dodgers 0, Reds 2 Bot 3, 0 OutsAug 28 7:58 PM - NL
AT CINCINNATI - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY JONNY GOMES SCORED WLADIMIR BALENTIEN
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, J GOMES ON FIRST, 2 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: LA DODGERS 0
CINCINNATI 1 BOTTOM,2ND
DUE UP FOR CINCINNATI: C MILLER (.375, 0 HR, 2 RBI)
Dodgers 0, Reds 1 Bot 2, 0 OutsAug 28 7:40 PM
Related News
- When Clayton Kershaw was Shohei Ohtani for a day Dec 26
- 2023 review: Andre Jackson Dec 25
- Notes: Shohei Ohtani, Joe Kelly, Walker Buehler, Manuel Margot Dec 25
- 2023 review: Yonny Hernández Dec 24
- Dodgers will pay $19.4 million luxury tax for 2023 Dec 23
- 2023 review: Phil Bickford Dec 23
- Reactions to Yamamoto signing with Dodgers Dec 23
- Dodgers sign Japanese star pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto Dec 22
- Shelby Miller signs with Tigers Dec 22
- 2023 review: Justin Bruihl Dec 22
- A plea for a Dodgers knuckleballer Dec 22
- The case for adding Framber Valdez, too Dec 22