• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Ethier, Lowe shine as Dodgers blast Padres

Apr 13, 2008 - 6:49 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The Los Angeles Dodgers broke out in a big way. Even Derek Lowe got in on the fun.

Andre Ethier finished a triple shy of the cycle and drove two runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers coasted to a 11-1 victory over the San Diego Padres on Saturday.

Lowe (1-0) allowed one run and four hits in eight innings with six strikeouts. The righthanded sinkerballer retired 20 of the last 21 hitters he faced and also drove in a career-high three runs.

"It was luck, I had a couple of balls that didn't make it out of the infield," Lowe said. "(Chris Young) threw me fastballs and I was lucky to put them in play, some days the breaks go your way, it was one of those days.

"An all-in-all good game, the offense was great and we got the big lead and continued it on during the whole game."

Rafael Furcal and Matt Kemp homered while Blake DeWitt had two doubles and a pair of RBI for the Dodgers, who recorded 13 hits and chased Young after three innings.

The Dodgers entered having scored just 19 runs in the last six games.

"You know we were too good to continue not to score runs," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "Tonight was good, hopefully we can hold on to it."

Ethier spoke of the challenge of facing the 6-10 Young.

"Whenever you face a guy that tall with the ball coming the way it's coming, you have to adjust your eye level," Ethier said.

Adrian Gonzalez put San Diego up, 1-0, with an RBI double in the first, but that was about all that went right for Padres.

Furcal tied the game with a leadoff homer in the first, and Russell Martin put Los Angeles up, 2-1, with an RBI single later in the frame. The Dodgers then took control with three runs in the third and four in the fourth.

"We're very capable of scoring runs, we have guys all up and down the line-up that are going to battle and give you at-bats," Russell said. "It is just a matter of keep doing the things that we do well."

The Dodgers sent nine men to the plate in the third. DeWitt drove in a pair of runs with a double to make it 4-1, and a run scored when Lowe reached on an error by Padres starter Chris Young (1-1).

"When Furcal ties the game up at 1-1, it certainly puts us in a better state of mind," Torre said. "Ethier had a great night, it was good all the way around. (Martin) got the base hit early, but the kid who probably got the biggest hit of the night was DeWitt with the double down the right field line."

The rout officially was on in the fourth when Ethier blasted a two-run shot to right - his second of the season - off Young to make it 7-1.

Young departed after allowing a career-high seven runs - six earned - and seven hits in three plus innings. Lowe capped the four-run frame with a two-run single to make it 9-1.

"It was my fastball command," Young said. "I'm not throwing the fastball where I want to. It's frustrating. For the most part, I put the hitters in hitters' counts. I wasn't very good. ... I felt bad I put the team in an early hole."

Lowe drove in another run in the sixth with an infield single, and Matt Kemp capped the scoring with a solo homer to right in the seventh.