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Dodgers keep heat on NL West leaders, down Cubs

Sep 5, 2007 - 4:59 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- With the Los Angeles Dodgers wanting to keep as much possible pressure on the division leaders in the National League West, a visit to Wrigley Field has been quite invigorating.

Brad Penny tossed seven strong innings and Matt Kemp had four hits as the Dodgers posted a 6-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday.

After dropping two of three games to division-leader San Diego over the weekend to leave it four games behind the Padres for first place in the division, Los Angeles has rebounded to win three straight, including taking the first two games of this four-game set. With the win, the Dodgers won for the 12th time in their last 17 contests at the Cubs' home park.

"It's a good time for us to get hot," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "We are starting to do things the right way (and) we got good pitching from Brad Penny. If we execute a little better running the bases, we will be fine."

The Cubs (70-67), clinging to a half-game advantage over the Milwaukee Brewers (70-68) and one-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals (68-67) in the NL Central, lost a game in the standings to both teams as both the Brewers and Cardinals won earlier in the day.

"The bottom line is we need to start scoring more runs," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "It's hard to beat the teams we are playing putting only two or three runs on the board."

Penny (15-4), who experienced a pair of three-game winless streaks sandwiched around a win on August 15, won for just the second time since July 26 after going 14-1 in 21 starts to begin the season. The righthander worked around a hit and two walks in the first inning by forcing Derrek Lee to ground into one of three double plays that the Dodgers turned in support for their ace on the evening.

"Getting out of the first inning was huge for me," Penny said. "I had great defense behind me with the guys turning those double plays, I worked with the lead all night and that made things a lot easier."

In all, Los Angeles turned a season-high five double plays.

"The guys in the middle - Jeff Kent and Rafael Furcal - have done a great job turning them (double plays) all year," Little said. "We need to keep doing that for the rest of the season."

Overall, Penny yielded two runs - one earned - and seven hits, marking the 17th time in 28 starts that he allowed one earned run or less in a start this season.

"I wasn't great tonight; I was a little erratic," Penny said. "I just competed like I know I can and had those big double plays to bail me out."

Two days after posting a three-hit effort in Sunday's 5-0 win over San Diego to start the Dodgers' current winning streak, Kemp recorded his second four-hit in his last 14 games, reaching base in all five plate appearances.

"I am seeing the ball real well right now," Kemp said. "I got some good pitches to hit and I took advantage of it, hopefully, I can keep it going."

After reaching first base in his first plate appearance due to third baseman Aramis Ramirez's fielding error, the 22-year-old singled in his next three at-bats before capping off his performance with his fifth career triple.

Steve Trachsel (0-1), who was acquired from Baltimore just before the non-waiver trading deadline on Friday in exchange for two minor leaguers, took the loss in the first start of his second tour of duty with the Cubs. The 36-year-old, who spent seven seasons with Chicago, allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings.

"It felt good to be out there," Trachsel said. "The game was what I thought it would be with the crowd going nuts. It was a lot of fun."