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Loney powers Dodgers to another win over Reds

Jun 19, 2008 - 4:36 AM By Doug Tifft PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- There is little doubt manager Dusty Baker and his Cincinnati Reds will be happy to wrap up their season series against the Los Angeles Dodgers in short order.

James Loney had two hits Wednesday, including a mammoth solo homer in the fourth inning, to power the Dodgers to a 6-1 win over the Reds.

After Juan Pierre scored on a wild pitch in the first and Andre Ethier added an RBI single one inning later to stake Los Angeles to an early two-run advantage, Edwin Encarnacion halved the deficit in the bottom of the second with his 12th homer of the season - a solo shot to deep center field.

However, the Reds' optimism was short-lived as Loney concluded a nine-pitch at-bat in the fourth against Reds starter Bronson Arroyo (4-6) by turning on a hanging curveball and sending a 439-foot blast into the right field seats for his sixth homer of the season.

"He (Arroyo) was just working me with different pitches in different locations," Loney said. "He had two strikes on me, so I was just trying to put a good swing on it."

Loney added an insurance run in the sixth with an RBI double before Pierre capped the scoring with a two-run triple for the Dodgers, who have won six of their seven meetings with the Reds this season.

"They were playing me a little shallow, and I finally popped one over their head," Pierre said. "They usually run over and catch those balls, but I got enough air under it and hit it pretty hard to get over their head and it ended up scoring a few. I was just trying to get something in the outfield with the infield drawn in."

The Reds, who will meet Los Angeles for the final time this season on Thursday, have been held to two runs or less in each of their last four meetings with the Dodgers, who have won five straight in the season series.

"We have played well (against Cincinnati)," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "We have pitched pretty (against them). Hopefully, we can win tomorrow and keep it going."

"We've been a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde team offensively," Baker said. "We score a lot of runs, then we don't score any. We need Dr. Jekyll to show up."

The Dodgers did all their damage against Arroyo, who yielded six runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. The lanky righthander walked one and struck out six.

After going winless during a seven-start stretch earlier in the season, Derek Lowe (5-6) won for the third time in four starts. He allowed one run and three hits with two walks and six strikeouts in 5 1/3 frames.

Hong-Chih Kuo recorded the final two outs of the sixth and tossed two more scoreless innings before rookie Cory Wade worked the ninth for Los Angeles.