Ramirez celebrates couple of firsts
He gets initial HR, victory with Dodgers
LOS ANGELES - Manny Ramírez and Casey Blake hit their first home runs as National Leaguers and Hiroki Kuroda pitched well into the eighth inning, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 4-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks last night.
Kuroda (6-8) allowed a run and four hits in 7 1/3 innings, struck out six, and walked none after allowing 20 earned runs in 18 1/3 innings over his previous four starts. The righthander won for the first time since beating Atlanta, 9-0, with a one-hitter July 7.
The Dodgers, who dropped the first two games of this NL West showdown by 2-1 scores, trail the division-leading Diamondbacks by two games. Jason Johnson pitches the series finale today against Doug Davis.
Ramírez, playing his second game since the Dodgers obtained him from the Red Sox Thursday, didn't waste any time against Arizona's Yusmeiro Petit. The 12-time All-Star drove the righthander's first pitch to him deep into the pavilion seats in left-center in the first inning for a 2-0 lead.
Juan Pierre opened the inning with a bunt single that hugged the third base line and was touching it when catcher Miguel Montero picked it up. Pierre was at third base by the time Ramírez recorded his 64th first-inning homer and 511th of his career, tying Mel Ott for 22d place all-time and putting Ramírez one behind Eddie Mathews and Ernie Banks.
The Dodgers, whose five-game homerless drought coming in was their longest of the season, made it 3-0 in the second when Blake sent a 2-and-1 pitch into the lower seats in the left-field corner. The home run came in his 26th at-bat following the July 26 trade with Cleveland.
Ramírez, who helped lead the Red Sox to a pair of World Series titles during the previous four seasons, was 2 for 4 and scored twice Friday night in his first game. The Dodgers lost that game after Ramírez grounded into a double play in the ninth inning.
Ramírez's homer was his first against the Diamondbacks - leaving Colorado as the only team he has never hit one against. The Dodgers have six games left with the Rockies.
Montero's first home run of the season trimmed the Dodgers' lead to 3-1. Kuroda retired 16 of his next 17 batters before second baseman Jeff Kent committed an error on Montero's grounder.
Pinch hitter Jamie D'Antona's bloop single put runners at the corners, but Hong-Chih Kuo came in and struck out Stephen Drew before retiring Orlando Hudson on a fielder's choice grounder to shortstop.
Kuo allowed an RBI single in the ninth by Alex Romero, but Chan Ho Park got the final out for his second save in as many attempts.
Petit (1-2) allowed three runs and five hits over five innings in his 14th big league start and third this season. He is 4-5 with a 4.68 ERA in the starting role.
Kent singled home the Dodgers' fourth run in the sixth against Leo Rosales.
