Dodgers Enjoy Launch Menu

Great American Ball Park is a launching pad, and Eric Milton’s pitches are rocket fuel.

Is it any surprise the combination puts baseballs into orbit?

Jason Phillips hit his first career grand slam and Milton Bradley also homered off the Cincinnati Red left-hander, lifting the Dodgers to a 9-3 victory Sunday night in front of an announced 19,634.

Milton (2-3) has given up 14 home runs in seven starts this season. He gave up 43 homers pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies last year, so the Reds knew what they were getting when they signed him to a three-year, $25.5-million contract.

The Dodgers said they were acquiring a solid hitter when they traded for Phillips during spring training to fill a void at catcher. Turns out they were right.

After racking up four hits and a career-high five runs batted in, Phillips is batting .313 with 21 RBIs -- second on the team to Jeff Kent’s 26. Phillips has helped quell concern about the bottom of the batting order, one of the team’s biggest question marks before the season.

The six through nine batters drove in eight runs, so for at least one night the bottom was tops. Ricky Ledee had three hits and an RBI, and Mike Edwards and pitcher Jeff Weaver each doubled in a run.

“We have good RBI guys in the middle of the order, but it’s our job to contribute too because they can’t be expected to do it every night,” Ledee said.

Like Milton, Weaver (4-2) gave up two home runs, but no one was on base either time. The right-hander struck out eight and pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth when the Reds tried to answer after Phillips had cleared the bases in the top of the inning.

Weaver got in trouble by hitting Ken Griffey Jr. with a pitch with one out and one on -- drawing a warning from plate umpire Terry Craft -- and walking Adam Dunn to load the bases. Weaver buckled down after a visit from pitching coach Jim Colborn, getting Joe Randa to fly out to short center field and striking out Rich Aurilia, who threw his helmet and bat in disgust.

“I’d been pitching Aurilia inside with sliders, so I changed it up and got him on a curveball away,” Weaver said. “We had just scored a bunch, so in that situation my objective is to go out there and grind it out.”

Homers by Milton and Griffey put the Reds ahead, 2-0, after four innings. Milton had never hit a home run; Griffey has now hit 504, tying him with Eddie Murray for 19th on the all-time list.

It is evident that Griffey, 35, has lost much of the sparkle that made him special before injuries took their toll in recent years. But he provided a glimmer of his former greatness in the fourth inning, robbing Bradley of a home run, then delivering a blow into the right-field seats.

The Dodgers got on the scoreboard in the fifth when Weaver doubled with two out to score Phillips.

“After giving up a home run to the pitcher I figured I had to find a way to get it back,” Weaver said.

He retired the Reds in order in the bottom of the fifth, setting the stage for Phillips, who has been working with batting coach Tim Wallach on taking the ball to right field.

This time, though, he got a pitch to turn on after Jason Repko, Bradley and Kent had singled to load the bases, driving it into the left-field seats.

The Dodgers (19-11) poured it on late. Bradley homered in the seventh inning, then the bottom of the order took over. Consecutive hits by Phillips, Ledee and Edwards produced a run in the eighth, and Phillips and Ledee drove in runs in the ninth.