Dodgers Game Recap – April 13, 2013

Saturday’s battle between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks featured two pitchers with a point to prove: Hyun-jin Ryu to establish his place among the top of the Dodgers’ rotation, and Ian Kennedy to get back to the form that won him 21 games two seasons ago.

Ryu made his case and made a case to be a reliable lefty bat off the bench, as the Dodgers beat the Diamondbacks 7-5, with Ryu going 3-3 at the plate, hitting two singles, a double, and scoring a run.

Adrian Gonzalez opened the scoring in the fourth inning on a solo home run to right field that left Gerardo Parra hanging from the fence.

Paul Goldschmidt hit a 407-foot double in the bottom part of the inning that fell inches short of a game-tying home run.

Ryu would get out of the fourth unscathed, however, with a strikeout that left two runners aboard as his family looked on from the stands.

Crawford scored the second run from first on a Skip Schumaker double to the left-center gap in the fifth inning, moments after racing to first to prevent a double play.

Andre Ethier kept the inning alive by singling to right, bringing in Schumaker to extend the Dodgers’ lead to 3-0.

The Diamondbacks got their first run on an A.J. Pollock groundout to short that scored Cliff Pennington from third.

But Crawford used his leather to make sure the damage ended there by making a difficult backhanded catch at the track that landed him chest-first on the left field wall.

Matt Kemp hit a two-run, bases-loaded single off Kennedy, that caused Diamondbacks manager and Dodgers legend Kirk Gibson to pull the plug on Kennedy.

Things weren’t much better for reliever Matt Reynolds, as Gonzalez hit an RBI single to make the game 6-1.

Justin Sellers was thrown out while on first by Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero during Ryu’s fourth at-bat, which ended Ryu’s night at the plate.

Don Mattingly pulled Ryu in the seventh after two Diamondback singles with no outs and brought in Ronnie Belisario.

Ryu allowed three runs (two while Belisario was pitching) and threw 108 pitches — his most this season. He struck out nine, walked one, and allowed six hits over six innings.

The Diamondbacks scored two runs in the seventh inning and Martin Prado added a solo shot in the eighth off Kenley Jansen to make the game 6-4.

Aaron Hill added a two-out double to left field off Jansen to put the Diamondbacks within one.

But Dodger newcomer Ramon Hernandez’s RBI double in the ninth gave the Dodgers insurance and finalized the scoring.

Gonzalez and Crawford continued their fine form, going 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs and 2-for-5 with two runs respectively. Matt Kemp continued to bounce back from a slow start to his season, going 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

Luis Cruz continued to struggle, going 0-4. He was pulled in the seventh inning for Juan Uribe.

The paid attendance was 37,214, with many fans wearing ”BEAT LA” shirts given to fans prior to the game. No word if Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick forced any more Dodger fans to wear D-Backs gear.

Josh Beckett (0-1, 4.91 ERA) and Trevor Cahill (0-2, 5.91 ERA) take the mound tomorrow at 1:10 on FSN Prime Ticket.

Francisco J. Reyes
@fjr3487

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