Manny homers to give Dodgers lead, Blake follows suit

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Manny Ramirez still knows a thing or two about dramatics. Whether he actually chooses to talk about it after the game, remains to be seen.

After the Diamondbacks tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the fourth Tuesday, Manny led off the bottom of the inning.

He then sent a 2-2 Ian Kennedy pitch an estimated 435 feet into the left-center bleachers for his first home run of the season.

The crowd, already proven a forgiving sort, chanted his name until he rose to the stop of the steps for a brief curtain call.

The blow appeared to have shaken Kennedy.

James Loney followed with a double and then Casey Blake hit a two-run homer to give the Dodgers a 4-1 lead. It was also Blake’s first home run of the season.

Left-hander Clayton Kershaw had retired 10 of his last 11 batters when Adam LaRoche sent a drive to deep center in the top of the fourth.

Matt Kemp, who has been having some rough defensive moments early this season, raced after the drive. Looking into the sun, he just missed making the catch and failed to slow down, crashing hard into the wall. He stayed in the game and appeared unhurt.

Chris Young then sent a broken-bat single to center to score the tying run.

-- Steve Dilbeck