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Gonzalez, Penny reverse road struggles vs. AL; down Jays

Jun 20, 2007 - 3:41 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- After a weekend of offensive frustration at home against their interleague rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers wasted little time finding their groove in Canada.

The Dodgers scored six runs in the first two innings and Brad Penny tossed seven strong innings en route to a 10-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in the series opener between the teams on Tuesday.

After dropping three to the Angels over the weekend - scoring just seven runs in the process - the Dodgers needed only 11 outs to surpass that total against the Blue Jays, grabbing just their second road win against interleague competition in 22 tries.

"It was a good night, offensively, right from the start," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "Some hitters with good at-bats, some awfully good pitching from Brad Penny. He was solid again, that's what it takes to win games."

An RBI single from Jeff Kent off Toronto starter Dustin McGowan (3-3) in the first gave Los Angeles their first run and Luis Gonzalez followed with his own run-scoring single as the Dodgers pushed three runs across the plate in the frame.

"We hadn't had a lot of that from our offense for a while," Gonzalez said. "The first couple innings were a good sign for us."

Los Angeles used a similar script in the second as they plated three more runs, starting when Nomar Garciaparra singled home Juan Pierre to push the bulge to 4-0. After a single from Kent, Gonzalez and Russell Martin capped off a stretch in which four consecutive Dodgers reached base as the duo each pounded out RBI singles to advance the lead to 6-0.

"Definitely, he was one pitch away from getting out of that inning," Pierre said. "He ended up walking me and it lead to three more runs."

Toronto was unable to retire the Dodgers No. 2-6 batters - Pierre, Garciaparra, Kent, Gonzalez and Martin - until Martin grounded out to shortstop in the fourth. In all, the quintet batted .550 (11-for-20), 10 runs and eight RBI. Gonzalez finished with three hits and four RBI.

"We got off to a fast start scoring three runs, Martin said. "Having your ace out there doing what he's been doing the whole season, pitching the ball extremely well (with) great command of all his pitches, you've got to tip your hat to Brad Penny and the whole collective effort of having good (at-bats) and putting some runs on the board."

The scoring outburst was more than enough for Penny (9-1), whose 2.12 ERA is the majors' third-best mark in that category. In tying Philadelphia's Cole Hamels for the National League lead in wins, the righthander permitted only one run and six hits with five strikeouts.

"Our guys got us a lot of runs early so a comfortable lead and I just went out and threw strikes," Penny said.

McGowan (3-3) surrendered six runs and eight hits over just 1 2/3 innings for the Blue Jays, who have lost consecutive contests following a three-game winning streak.

"(They put some) good swings on (the ball), found some holes and had some good innings," McGowan said.

Alex Rios, Troy Glaus and Matt Stairs each had two hits for Toronto, the only Blue Jays to collect hits off Dodgers pitching.