These Hits Ring a Bell

And for one night, the game came to the Dodgers.

Easily, effortlessly, as if they owned patents on a high-powered offense and efficient pitching.

They scored nine runs in the fifth inning and rode Derek Lowe’s solid pitching to a 10-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park.

“It’s like we got well all of a sudden,” Cesar Izturis said.

Phillie pitches were chicken soup for the hole in their swings.

The Dodgers had 14 hits, including three by Izturis, who began the game with nine hits in his last 100 at-bats.

Other ailing Dodgers were also seemingly miraculously cured.

Jayson Werth ended a two-for-29 skid with a double and a two-run home run.

Jeff Kent, after no home runs and two runs batted in over the last 15 games, hit a three-run home run in the fifth. He drove in another run with a single in the sixth.

But the biggest change was in Lowe, a pitcher the Dodgers signed to a four-year, $36-million contract during the off-season. As the team had faded the last two months, so had he.

Lowe (6-10) hadn’t won in eight starts, had lost five decisions in a row and hadn’t won on the road all season. Those streaks all ended in a seven-inning, five-strikeout effort. He gave up leadoff doubles in the first and fourth innings and a leadoff single in the third but stranded them all.

The only Phillie runs came on a two-run home run by David Bell in the seventh after substitute second baseman Antonio Perez flubbed a ground ball with two out.

Lowe credited his effectiveness to working with pitching coach Jim Colborn to correct a flaw in his mechanics.

“This is the way I pitched early in the year,” he said. “The home run was frustrating because to shut this team out would have been quite a feat.”

Werth also made a mechanical adjustment on the suggestion of a coach, and the result was the opposite-field home run. He spent time in the batting cage with hitting coach Tim Wallach correcting a tendency to pull off pitches on the outside part of the plate.

“I was going to try a new stance every day until something worked,” Werth said. “I tried something totally new. I threw everything away and started over.”

Everything came together in the fifth, when Phillie starter Cory Lidle allowed the first seven Dodgers to reach base.

Mike Edwards singled, Werth homered and Jason Repko walked, setting up perhaps the biggest hit of the inning. With the Phillies expecting a bunt, Lowe punched a hit-and-run single to right field.

Oscar Robles doubled to score Repko, Izturis singled to score Lowe and Kent chased Lidle with his home run. Edwards got his second hit of the inning, Werth walked and Repko hit a two-run triple with two out against Robinson Tejada.

It was the biggest Dodger inning since they scored 10 runs in the first against Cincinnati on May 6.

“We created some breathing room for Derek,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “We didn’t have to live on the edge for nine innings.”

The Dodgers had lost eight games in a row at Philadelphia, their last win coming in August 2002. More pertinent is that first-place San Diego lost Wednesday, so the Dodgers (42-52) trail by 7 1/2 games in the NL West despite winning only nine of 32.

Today’s game will be crucial. The Dodgers haven’t won two in a row since beating the Padres on June 22-23.

“This win helps out morale for sure,” Werth said. “San Diego doesn’t seem like they want to take it, so we’ll see.”

Said Tracy: “The follow-up will be interesting to see.”