(Sports Network) - Hiroki Kuroda nearly threw a no-hitter in his last trip to the hill. Tonight, the Los Angeles Dodgers will settle for a win, as they play the rubber match of their three-game set against the San Francisco Giants at Dodgers Stadium.
The Dodgers Look To Stanch The Slide In Rubber Match Against Giants
The Dodgers seemed well on their way to a victory on Saturday before San Francisco mounted a furious comeback that culminated with Juan Uribe's two-run home run in ninth which lifted the Giants to a 5-4 win.
San Francisco trailed by four runs after six innings, but Buster Posey homered to begin the seventh. Edgar Renteria and Pat Burrell hit solo shots in the eighth to get the visitors within a run, and Uribe's one-out homer off Jonathan Broxton (5-5) put San Francisco on top.
“That’s up there with comeback wins,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. “Juan got a pitch he could handle. It’s hard to get a bigger one than that. The longball won it for us tonight.”
Brian Wilson then pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth to earn the save for San Francisco, which rebounded from a loss in Friday's series opener and gained ground in the NL West. First-place San Diego dropped its ninth in a row earlier Saturday, and the Giants' win pulled them within two games.
“Hopefully when the team ahead of you struggles, you go on a springboard and get it going,” Bochy added. “But we’ve been playing good teams, too.”
San Francisco also remained three games behind Philadelphia in the wild card chase, as the Phillies beat Milwaukee on Saturday.
Jay Gibbons hit a three-run homer for the Dodgers, who have lost five of seven.
Kuroda, meanwhile, went 7 1/3 innings before allowing a hit on Monday against the Phillies and earned the win with 7 2/3 scoreless frames to run his record to 10-11, while lowering his earned run average to 3.39.
“I was hoping he was going to get it, but I could tell he was a little edgy at the end,” said Dodgers manager Joe Torre. “His stuff was electric tonight.”
Kuroda has faced the Giants six times and is 2-1 against them with a 3.60 ERA.
San Francisco will hand the ball to lefty Jonathan Sanchez, who is 9-8 with a 3.54 ERA. Sanchez did not get a decision on Monday against Colorado, but pitched well, surrendering just a run in eight innings of his team's 2-1 loss.
Sanchez has struggled mightily in his career against the Dodgers, going 0-5 in 13 games (nine starts) against them with a 6.04 ERA.
The Giants have split their 14 meetings with the Dodgers this season.
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