Things get brighter for Dodgers with a win over Angels
It was the night the lights went out in Anaheim.
Not all of them. One bank of lights on the first base side of Angel Stadium went dark in the top of the seventh inning Thursday night, causing an 18-minute electrical delay in a game the Dodgers, on the strength of a five-run fourth inning, went on to win, 10-6.
The Dodgers ended a six-game losing streak and avoided being swept by the Angels in the six-game season series. The Angels fell 4 1/2 games behind the American League West-leading Texas Rangers, who have won 11 in a row.
Their pride perhaps wounded from Wednesday night’s mistake-filled, 2-1 loss to the Angels and their ears probably stinging from Manager Joe Torre’s postgame tongue-lashing, the Dodgers seemed to play with more purpose Thursday night.
They ran the bases aggressively all game, especially in the eighth, when Jamey Carroll scored from first on Manny Ramirez’s single to deep right-center and Matt Kemp went from first to third on James Loney’s single to center, diving head-first into the bag.
Even Ramirez, heavily criticized for not scoring from first on Kemp’s two-out double off the left-center field wall Wednesday night, expended considerable effort on the bases.
The Dodgers scored twice in the seventh, on Andre Ethier’s double and run-scoring singles by Ramirez and Casey Blake, to take an 8-4 lead, and the Angels were making a pitching change when one of the four banks of lights rimming the top of the stadium went out.
Crew chief Tim Welke, the home-plate umpire, ordered both teams off the field about 10 p.m. But 12 minutes later, Torre and Angels Manager Mike Scioscia met with Welke, and all parties agreed there was enough light for the game to resume.
The Dodgers got a serviceable start from knuckleballer Charlie Haeger, whose 4 2/3-inning, four-run, five-hit, four-walk effort was still better than Angels starter Scott Kazmir, who lasted only 3 2/3 innings and was tagged for five runs and six hits.
Kazmir, plagued by mechanical problems and the loss of his slider, was 2-5 with a 6.51 earned run average in his first seven starts, but he righted himself in late May, winning five of six starts and fashioning a 2.35 ERA while winning his last four games.
Thursday, it was as if Kazmir’s evil twin returned. The left-hander looked like his early-season, inefficient self, pushing his pitch count to 93 by the time he was yanked after giving up five runs in the fourth inning.
Kemp sparked the rally with a single to right, and Loney was hit by a pitchBlake flied to deep center, but Russell Martin walked to load the bases.
Reed Johnson dribbled a slow roller to third that went for a run-scoring infield single and a 1-1 tie, and Rafael Furcal doubled to left for two more runs and a 3-1 lead.
Carroll, inserted in the second spot because of his .571 (four for seven) average against Kazmir, poked an RBI single to right that scored Johnson for a 4-1 lead and moved Furcal to third.
Of course, the night wouldn’t be complete without a Dodgers baserunning gaffe at second.
The Dodgers scored their final run of the fourth when Ethier hit a potential double-play comebacker that Kazmir dropped.
Kazmir threw late to second, where Carroll was ruled safe, but Carroll, thinking he was called out, got up after his slide, dusted himself off and headed toward the first base dugout. Angels shortstop Brandon Wood tagged Carroll for the second out.
Mike Napoli hit a solo homer in the fourth to make it 5-2, and run-scoring singles by Torii Hunter and Hideki Matsui in the fifth pulled the Angels within 6-4.
The Angels scored twice in the ninth, on Kevin Frandsen’s RBI double and Bobby Abreu’s RBI single, forcing Torre to summon his sixth reliever in the game, closer Jonathan Broxton, who struck out Hunter and Matsui to close the game.
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