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Clark double lifts Dodgers over Padres in 17th

Apr 30, 2007 - 2:40 AM SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- Give the entire Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen a save for this one.

Brady Clark doubled in the winning run in the 17th inning as the Dodgers outlasted the San Diego Padres, 5-4, in the longest game in the major leagues this season.

In capturing the rubber game of the weekend series, Los Angeles rode a magnificent effort by its bullpen, which saw six relievers combine to allow just one hit in 10 2/3 innings.

"I tell you what, (the relief pitchers) were outstanding out there today," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "When you get a game going along like that one was, it does a lot for both teams' bullpens. Those runs are hard to come by out there when you get guys throwing like they were throwing."

The Padres' bullpen turned in 11 innings of scoreless relief before Los Angeles pushed across a run in the 17th against lefthander Justin Hampson (0-1), who was in his fourth inning.

"Just a battle of two very good bullpens," Padres manager Bud Black said. "I thought our guys pitched great. Justin Hampson was magnificient. What an effort by those guys. It was awesome."

The Dodgers capitalized on a double switch that forced San Diego to play third-string catcher Pete LaForest at first base.

It came back to haunt the Padres when Wilson Valdez reached on an error by LaForest and came around to score on Clark's double into the left field corner.

"Pete did quite a bit of work at first base," Black said. "I thought a couple of those ground balls he handled flawlessly. You saw the pickoff play (in the 15th) that he handled flawlessly. I thought he did a good job. That ball just ticked off the top of his glove."

Clark had been the only Dodger starter without a hit to that point.

"It's huge to get that win right there," Clark said. "Both to win the series and when you play a game that long, you'd like to win it or else you're going to have some miserable people."

San Diego threatened in the bottom of the 17th, also taking advantage of an error by third baseman Ramon Martinez on Mike Cameron's one-out grounder off Chad Billingsley, the seventh Dodger pitcher.

After Geoff Blum walked to put runners at first and second, Billingsley struck out Rob Bowen and Kevin Kouzmanoff to end the third straight one-run game in the series.

"I'm really proud for the job that Chad was able to do out there at the end," Little said. "I think that was a big lift for him."

Billingsley (2-0) worked the final two innings, striking out four and walking one.

"You've just got to go out there and try to shut them down, especially in extra innings," Billingsley said. "In the (16th) inning, I was kind of pacing myself. When we scored that run, I thought, 'I'm going to really bear down here.' I was doing that earlier, but it was more like trying to induce them to make contact."

The way the game started, a marathon was the last thing one could expect.

The Dodgers jumped on Padres starter David Wells when Rafael Furcal led off the game with a double to left and scored when Wells threw wildly on Juan Pierre's bunt single. Pierre later scored on Russell Martin's single for a 2-0 lead.

San Diego halved the deficit in the bottom of the frame. Marcus Giles had a lead single, moved to third on a bunt single by Jose Cruz Jr. and scored on Adrian Gonzalez's groundout.

Wells, who lasted just 2 1/3 innings in a 9-1 loss to Los Angeles on April 13, surrendered back-to-back solo homers to Jeff Kent and Luis Gonzalez in the third as the Dodgers went ahead, 4-1.

The Padres answered with two of the own in the bottom half. Giles, who bruised his rib cage and had to leave in the seventh, again was the catalyst with a leadoff single and scored on Cruz's triple to right field. Brian Giles followed with a double to cut the deficit to 4-3.

Dodgers starter Derek Lowe averted further damage by getting Josh Bard to ground into an inning-ending double play and settled in, retiring nine of the next 10 batters before running into trouble in the seventh.

Blum drew a lead walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by pinch hitter Oscar Robles. Marcus Giles following with his third hit of the game, a single to right that plated Blum with the tying run and ended Lowe's day.

"Our guys played hard until the end and we had an opportunity to win, but it just didn't work out for us," Black said. "Any time there is a 17-inning game, it's not boring. Every pitch is crucial."