Carl Crawford had a season high four hits for the Dodgers on Wednesday night including three doubles and two RBI’s as Los Angeles blanked the Padres 4-0.
Crawford doubled in the bottom of the 2nd, 7th and the 8th becoming the 24th Dodger in history to have three doubles in one game. The 2 x 3 performance was all the offense Dodgers starting pitcher Dan Haren would need as he pitched seven scoreless innings.
Haren (13-10) gave up no runs on four hits, with five strikeouts and one walk over seven innings and has been clutch for the Dodgers down the stretch going 4-1 with a 1.70 ERA in his last 7 starts.
Haren earned his 13th win of the year, joining him with Kershaw, Ryu and Grienke who all have won at least 13 games. It is the first that four or more Dodgers pitchers have won more than 13 games in a season since Hershiser, Valenzuela, Reuss and Welch did it in 1985.
“Tonight he was pretty good.” Said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly after the game.
“Danny is gonna compete, he’s gonna be ready, and he’s not afraid. I think it’s important he’s not out there trying to throw like Dan Haren from five years ago.”
Matt Kemp singled in the 2nd inning to extend his hitting streak to a season-high 16 games. Kemp later scored on Crawford’s first double of the evening.
Haren pulled a “Houdini” in the 4th inning as the Padres had runners on second and third with no outs and hot-hitting Yasmani Grandal at the plate. Haren escaped the inning after getting Grandal to pop out to first, and Rene Rivera to strike out after that.
“You get the first out there, then you try and strike the next guy out. I got a good count on him and was able to that.” Haren said about the jam.
“I felt great after that inning. I think the team got a little boost of energy after that. The team was pumped and I was too.”
The Dodgers were successful on not one, but two similar challenges on the evening. In both the first and fifth innings, Padres runners tried to steal a base on Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis. On both occasions, second base umpire Lance Barrett called the runner safe. Each time Mattingly came out of the dugout to challenge the play and upon further review from the league office in New York, the runners were called out.
The crowd got in on the action during both challenges, cheering after each call was overturned and gesturing to Barrett that he needed glasses after blowing not one but two calls in the game. Both reviews had they not been challenged could have put Padres runners in scoring position which had they scored could have completely changed the outcome of the game. The plays were both correctly overturned proving the replay system in baseball is working.
Dominican born Hanley Ramirez, delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the 6th inning scoring Justin Turner and giving Ramirez his 66th RBI of the season.
Carl Crawford was incredible adding doubles in the 7th and 8th innings, blowing the game open 4-0 by the time Kenley Jansen came in to close it out in the 9th .The Dodgers bullpen was excellent again as J.P. Howell pitched a scoreless 8th for his 27th hold of the season.
The Dodgers have an off day on Thursday before travelling up to San Francisco for a crucial three game series with their hated rivals the Giants. The Giants beat the D-backs 5-0 and currently sit 2.5 games back of Los Angeles with this weekend’s series possibly deciding the NL West.
Game Notes:
The Dodgers finished 6-3 on their home stand moving to a season high 20 games above .500. With the win Los Angeles improved to 42-22 against the NL West on the season. Remarkably, Dodgers utility infielder, Justin Turner, went 2-4 tonight, making it his 25th multi-hit game in as many starts this season.
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