Recap: Howie Kendrick Gets Dodgers Rolling In Win Over Angels
Following Yasmani Grandal’s one-out single in the bottom of the fourth, Alex Guerrero pulled a two-run home run over the short fence in left field to give the Dodgers a 3-1 lead. Hernandez followed with a ground-rule double, but was then stranded by Greinke and Rollins.
The Angels failed to cut into their deficit in the fifth inning, going down in order with Greinke striking out two along the way. Santiago recorded two quick outs in the bottom of the fifth then ran into some trouble.
Van Slyke dropped a bloop double between a trio of Angels down the first base line, and came around to score on Yasiel Puig’s RBI single to left. Puig took second base on Murphy’s throw home, which was key as he then was driven in on Grandal’s RBI single. Guerrero lined out to left and the Dodgers took a 5-1 lead into the sixth inning.
The Calhoun-Trout combination continued to be thorn in Greinke’s side as the right fielder improved to 3-for-3 with a bloop single. A wild pitch allowed Calhoun to move into scoring position and Trout’s RBI single cut the Dodgers’ lead to 5-2 before Greinke worked himself out of the inning by striking out Pujols and Murphy.
Santiago hit Hernandez with a pitch to open the bottom of the sixth and gave way to Trevor Gott. Hernandez reached second on a hit-and-run with Greinke batting that kept the Dodgers out of a double play. However, the Dodgers utility man didn’t get any further as Rollins flied out and Kendrick lined out.
Greinke picked up his eighth strikeout of the game in the seventh as he set the Angels down in order. Cory Rasmus entered in the bottom of the seventh and struck out the side, consisting of Gonzalez, Van Slyke and Puig.
The Angels again failed to have a runner reach base, this time in the eighth inning, which included Greinke retiring Calhoun for the first time on the night. To that point in the game, Angels not named Calhoun or Trout were 0-for-21 against Greinke with eight strikeouts and one walk.
Cesar Ramos gave up a leadoff single to Grandal and walked Alberto Callaspo to put two on with no outs in the bottom of the eighth. Ramos got out of the jam by striking out Hernandez and getting pinch-hitter Carl Crawford to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Trout hit a leadoff home run against Kenley Jansen, who plunked Aybar with two outs before managing to earn his 18th save of the season in the Dodgers’ 5-3 win. The win was the Dodgers’ fourth consecutive over the Angels dating back to last season.
[divide]Yasiel Puig Has Big Game On Bobblehead Night
