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Penny, Martin help Dodgers edge Diamondbacks

Jun 26, 2007 - 6:52 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Brad Penny continued his dominance against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Penny pitched eight outstanding innings and Russell Martin drove in two runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers cruised to an 8-1 victory over the Diamondbacks on Monday night.

Penny yielded one run and four hits with four strikeouts and two walks as he picked up his National League-leading 10th win of the season.

"This guy is definitely one of (the best). When you play with guys like that, you can see the confidence in your teammates," Dodgers outfielder Luis Gonzalez said. "You like your chances to win before the game even starts. When this guy takes the mound, he has a presence and a focus and you know he wanted to pitch in this game."

Penny (10-1) was scheduled to start Sunday against Tampa Bay, but manager Grady Little decided to push it back one day because of the righthander's success against Arizona. Penny improved to 7-2 all-time in the series, including two wins this season.

"Any time you can pitch against your division, it counts as two games instead of one sometimes," Penny said.

"Penny's been lights out the whole year," Martin said. "You can just tell he's got confidence, his composure's great and he'll give his best effort, and if you get him a couple runs, you'll pretty much get a 'W.' He throws strikes, gets you back in the dugout to hit and keeps you in the groove."

Not only was Penny impressive on the mound, he also sparked the offense in the sixth with a leadoff double against rookie starter Micah Owings. Rafael Furcal laced an infield single before Penny scored on shortstop Stephen Drew's fielding error.

"(Penny's) a threat offensively," Little said. "He started that inning off right there with that double in the corner. It kind of lit a fuse under everyone."

A former Diamondback, Gonzalez then stroked an RBI single and Martin capped the four-run inning with a two-run triple for a 4-1 lead.

Wilson Betemit hit his eighth homer in the eighth and James Looney added a two-run triple and scored on Juan Pierre's RBI single in the ninth as Los Angeles built a seven-run cushion.

Owings (5-2) went six innings, allowing four runs and six hits with two strikeouts as he suffered his first defeat since April 11 here against Cincinnati.

"I'll look at it, but I felt good tonight and felt like I could have gone further, and even when I came out, I felt good and was disappointed that I came out," Owings said.

The Diamondbacks opened the scoring in the fourth, when Conor Jackson singled up the middle and came around on Chris Young's RBI double off the center field wall for the lone run off Penny.

Jackson had two hits for the Diamondbacks, who lost for just the third time in their last 10 outings.

Los Angeles second baseman Jeff Kent left in the sixth inning with a bruised left foot.