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Ramirez's safety squeeze wins it for Marlins

Jul 7, 2007 - 7:50 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Hanley Ramirez's biggest hit traveled less than 90 feet.

Ramirez hit a pair of home runs but surprised everyone by driving in the game-winning run with a safety squeeze in the 10th inning as the Florida Marlins posted a 6-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday.

Ramirez, who recorded the third multi-homer game of his career and drove in three runs, surprised the Dodgers by dropping a perfectly placed bunt down the third base line for a single that scored rookie Eric Reed.

"You have to look at the situation and do what would give the team the best chance to win," Ramirez said. "I caught everyone by surprise, even my teammates."

Jeremy Hermida, who made a costly error in right field in the fifth that gave the Dodgers the lead, helped atone for it by drawing a leadoff walk from Brett Tomko (1-7) in the 10th.

Reed, who was pinch-running for Hermida, stole second with one out, moved to third on a forceout and scored easily on Ramirez's bunt.

"That's part of the game, you always want to pick a teammate up after a play like that with a win," Ramirez said of his bunt that got Hermida off the hook.

It was quite a game for Ramirez, who led off the night with a homer and hit another in the seventh to draw Florida within 5-4. He struck out three times in between.

Ramirez's last multi-homer game came on September 27 against Cincinnati.

The 23-year-old's huge day helped Renyel Pinto (1-3) pick up his first career win. Pinto pitched two scoreless innings and Kevin Gregg worked out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the 10th to record his 18th save in 19 opportunities.

"You can't say enough about Hanley, he's having a good year and he is a really good player in this league," Florida's Dan Uggla said. "Tonight, you got to see many of his skills."

The Marlins were able to eke out just their fourth win in the last 11 meetings with the Dodgers thanks in large part to Miguel Cabrera, who hit a game-tying RBI double off closer Takashi Saito in the ninth.

Saito entered the game with a 5-4 lead but was blew just his second save opportunity of the season when Cabrera's shot into the left-center field gap scored Uggla, who drew a one-out walk.

"The key to the game was Cabrera tying up the game in the ninth," Los Angeles manager Grady Little said. "That was the backbreaker."

"We played hard and fought back," Uggla said. "It gives us confidence and it was a big win for us."

The Dodgers appeared to be on the verge of snapping a two-game skid when All-Star Russell Martin belted a game-tying, two-run homer off Dontrelle Willis and Luis Gonzalez hit a go-ahead double in a five-run fifth inning.

With Los Angeles trailing, 3-1, Martin hit a 2-0 pitch over the left field wall for his 10th homer of the season to tie it at 3-3. Martin, who will make his first All-Star appearance Tuesday, matched his home run total of 2006, his rookie season.

After a single by Jeff Kent, Gonzalez blasted a 2-1 offering over the head of center fielder Alfredo Amezega for an RBI double and a 4-3 lead. Gonzalez then scored on a terrible error by Hermida, who dropped a routine fly ball off the bat of Nomar Garciaparra.

Willis was handed a 3-0 lead but faltered and left trailing, 5-3, after six innings. He allowed five runs - four earned - and seven hits with six strikeouts and three walks.

The lefthander threw 66-of-95 pitches for strikes and is now winless since May 29, a span of seven starts.

Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley left after five innings. He allowed three runs and seven hits with three walks and six strikeouts.