San Diego, CA (Sports Network) - Chad Billingsley pitched six shutout frames, and his pinch-hitter, Andre Ethier, came through with a big hit in the top of the seventh, as the Dodgers kicked off an important NL West three-game set with a 2-0 victory over San Diego.
Andre Ethier’s Pinch-Hit Single Enough As Dodgers Shut Out Padres, 2-0
Billingsley (9-5) scattered three hits and two walks with four strikeouts on the heels of his shutout on Wednesday versus the Giants. Blake DeWitt and Garret Anderson scored for the Dodgers, who have won three straight. Jonathan Broxton pitched a perfect ninth for his 20th save of the season.
Jon Garland (9-7) took the loss, yielding two runs on five hits with five strikeouts and two walks over 6 2/3 frames. Yorvit Torrealba finished 2-for-3 in the loss. The Padres saw their three-game winning streak come to an end.
The Padres put together a serious threat in the home fourth, beginning with Adrian Gonzalez's single to left. Chase Headley then singled and Torrealba followed with an infield hit deflected by Billingsley.
Billingsley settled down, inducing a Will Venable grounder to second, where DeWitt came home for the force out. Tony Gwynn popped out to short and Everth Cabrera struck out looking to end the threat.
The Dodgers mustered an offensive charged in the sixth as Russell Martin singled and moved to second on Billingsley's bunt attempt that wasn't fielded cleanly by Gonzalez for an error. Garland, like Billingsley, thwarted any scoring chance by retiring the next three batters.
Los Angeles put together a furious two-out rally in the seventh to finally push across some runs. DeWitt started the two-out rally with a single to right, Anderson followed with a single to right and Martin was intentionally walked, forcing manager Joe Torre’s hand. Despite six shutout innings, Torre pinch hit for Billingsley with Ethier, who knocked a two-run single to center.
Garland dropped to 5-2 at Petco Park...The Dodgers have won five of six over the Padres this season...These two teams began a stretch of seven games against each other out of the next 10...Billingsley has not allowed a run over his last 13 1/3 innings against the Padres and is 10-4 lifetime against them. He's 4-0 vs. NL West opponents this season...LA's Hong-Chih Kuo extended his scoreless streak to 14 2/3 innings...Torrealba has an 11-game hitting streak.
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