Kent’s Shot Drives Everyone Home

He is the one constant in a season of collapse, chaos and controversy. Disappointing losses have not dulled his enthusiasm. Devastating injuries to teammates have not altered his resolve. Even a charge of racism by fellow Dodger Milton Bradley has not distracted him.

And once again Tuesday night, in a season seemingly going nowhere for the Dodgers, second baseman Jeff Kent rallied his teammates, hitting a two-run homer in the 10th inning at Dodger Stadium to give the Dodgers a 4-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

“You can’t say enough about Kent and the season he has,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said. “I don’t know where we would be without him.”

As usual, Kent shrugged it off.

“I just go up there, swing the bat and try to be aggressive,” he said “I wasn’t thinking any game plan. We’ve been playing some decent baseball, but we can’t seem to stay consistent. It’s been a struggle to do that.”

It was Giants who came into the game with all the momentum. They had won six in a row and eight of nine. They had been buoyed in pregame batting practice by the sight of Barry Bonds, out all season after knee surgery, smashing home runs as did in his glory days, seemingly near a return to action.

In the Dodgers, the Giants were facing a team that had lost four straight and five of six to fall to a season-high 15 games under .500.

But the Dodgers rallied for a run in the eighth inning to tie. And, with two out in the 10th, Oscar Robles singled off reliever Jeremy Accardo (0-4), before Kent hit a 1-and-0 fastball deep into the left-field stands.

Giant left fielder Moises Alou, who had robbed Kent of a potential extra-base hit the night before, could only watch this time as Kent collected his 26th home run, driving in his second and third runs of the night and 96th of the season.

Yhency Brazoban (3-8) got the victory in relief.

“I’m proud of him,” Tracy said of his former closer. “He’s been up and down of late, but he keeps working on the things we want him to work on.”

Jose Cruz Jr. gave the Dodgers the early lead, hitting a 2-and-2 Brett Tomko pitch into the right-field bullpen leading off the second inning. It was Cruz’s 13th home run, and all 13 have come with the switch-hitter batting from the left side.

Through five innings, Brad Penny held the lead while stranding four Giant runners. But in the sixth, San Francisco broke through against Penny.

Or actually, against left fielder Jayson Werth.

Trying to make a diving catch on J.T. Snow’s one-out liner, Werth came up with nothing but blades of grass as the ball bounced past him, allowing Snow to go all the way to third.

The relay back to the infield hit the sliding Snow on the foot and caromed away. Another few bounces and Snow might have made it all the way home by himself.

As it was, he trotted home when Werth wasn’t playing deep enough to catch up to Pedro Feliz’s two-out drive, which bounced over Werth’s head and up against the left-wall for a double, driving in his team-leading 74th RBI.

Penny had to leave the game after that inning because of stiffness in his back.

The Giants took the lead in the seventh with Giovanni Carrara on the mound. After Angel Chavez doubled with one out and moved to third on Tomko’s single, Randy Winn bunted on a suicide squeeze to bring the run home. With Chavez charging down the line from third, Winn had to get down on one knee to reach Carrara’s pitch, but he still managed to shove the ball away from home plate before his teammate arrived.

The Dodgers tied the score in bottom of the eighth on an RBI single by Kent, a blooper to left field.

But, as it turned out, he was just warming up.