Results tagged “Hiroki Kuroda” from Inside the Dodgers

The Diamondbacks beat the Dodgers 4-3 tonight in 10 innings. For a full recap and boxscore click here.

THE BARE ESSENTIALS:

• The big story for the Dodgers tonight was what happened to starter Hiroki Kuroda. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Arizona pinch-hitter Rusty Ryal lined a 2-2 pitch right back at Kuroda's right temple, and the 34-year-old righthander went down immediately. He did move, however, and CAT scans taken after the game at St. Joseph's Hospital were negative.

• Meanwhile, the Dodgers held a 3-1 lead into the ninth but closer Jonathan Broxton allowed back-to-back homers -- only his third and fourth homers allowed of the season -- to blow the save.

• The Blue couldn't put anything together offensively in the tenth, and the D'Backs came back with a perfectly executed bottom half of the inning off of Ramon Troncoso to get the win. Augie Ojeda singled, Dan Haren bunted him to second, and after two walks, Gerardo Parra hit a walk-off single.

ETC...ETC

• The Dodgers took a 3-0 lead, but Ryal's hit -- ruled a ground-rule double -- sparked the first run for the D'Backs. From there, the L.A. offense wasn't the same, with only two hits.

• Hong-Chih Kuo and George Sherrill both feasted on an Arizona lineup that was incredibly left-handed in scoreless seventh and eighth innings. The 1-7 hitters in the D'Backs order were lefties.

• Offensively, Brad Ausmus had an RBI single in the second, Doug Davis threw a pick-off away in the fifth to score Rafael Furcal, and Mark Loretta hit a sac fly to bring in Casey Blake in the sixth inning.

• Matt Kemp didn't have a hit but still wreaked havoc on the basepaths, reaching base via walk in the tenth inning and stealing second and third.

ON DECK:

• Randy Wolf (6-6, 3.43) tries to salvage a game for the Dodgers against Arizona's Yusmeiro Petit (2-6, 5.87) tomorrow at 1 p.m.

CAT Scans on Hiroki Kuroda taken at a nearby Phoenix hospital were negative. As soon as trainer Stan Conte came out to talk to the 34-year-old, he reportedly asked if anyone had caught the ball that bounced off his head.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda was hit in the head by a line drive off the bat of Arizona pinch-hitter Rusty Ryal. Ryal, replacing D'Backs starter Doug Davis, hit a 2-2 pitch right back up the middle. Kuroda reacted violently to the ball and hardly moved while on the ground. Ryal appeared apologetic; among notable Dodger reactions included 21-year-old lefthander Clayton Kershaw, who looked legitimately shocked. Eventually, a car came to take Kuroda away and James McDonald replaced him. We'll know more later.

The Dodgers beat the Giants 4-2 tonight in the first of three games in San Francisco. For a full recap and boxscore click here.

THE BARE ESSENTIALS:

• Timely hitting gave the Dodgers the victory tonight, even though they went just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. All four runs came in the fourth on a Matt Kemp three-run double and Mark Loretta RBI single.

• Hiroki Kuroda turned in a solid start, giving up just one run on six hits in 6 1/3 innings. It was also his longest outing since June and gave him wins in consecutive starts for the first time this season.

• Joe Torre used his bullpen by the book. Hong-Chih Kuo faced one batter after replacing Kuroda, Ronald Belisario came in to set up a righty-righty matchup, and George Sherrill and Jonathan Broxton pitched the eighth and ninth innings. Kuo, Belisario, and Sherrill all got holds. You hear a lot of criticism of the Dodger pen, but there are quite a few solid arms.

ETC...ETC:

• Broxton gave up a solo jack to Bengie Molina and a single to Randy Winn with one out in the ninth, but he got Fred Lewis to ground into a force out and Juan Castro made a nice play on a Ryan Garko grounder to end the game.

• Chad Billingsley won't make his Wednesday start with the hamstring injury, so the Dodgers will have to bring up another Triple-A starter or use Jeff Weaver, barring a waiver wire pickup. Knuckleballer Charlie Haeger has a 3.55 ERA in 22 starts with Albuquerque, and he averages nearly seven innings a start.

• The Dodgers victory puts them 6.5 games in front of the Giants in the NL West, but the Rockies -- on the strength of a cycle by Troy Tulowitzki -- stayed 5.5 back.

ON DECK:

• Randy Wolf (5-6, 3.55) and Joe Martinez (2-0, 5.87) take to the mound in the second game of the series.

The Dodgers beat the Cardinals 5-3 tonight to end their season-high four-game losing streak. For a full recap and boxscore click here.

THE BARE ESSENTIALS:

• Oh, was this one big. The Dodgers eeked out a victory to salvage a game out this four-game set with the Cardinals. Neither the pitching nor the offense was great, but the Blue found a way to win.

• Matt Kemp came up with the game-winning single in the top of the 10th, knocking in two runs with two outs against Todd Wellemeyer.

• The 1-4 hitters in the Dodgers lineup went 1-for-17, including a woeful 0-for-5 day for Manny Ramirez on the day his name came up in a New York Times report that said he tested positive for PEDs in 2003.

• Hiroki Kuroda turned in a quality start, going six innings and giving up two runs. Cardinal starter Kyle Lohse did him better, allowing only one run in his six frames.

ETC...ETC:

• The Dodgers revamped their bullpen today, trading for George Sherrill and replacing Brent Leach on the active roster with Scott Elbert. The 'pen did a solid job, allowing only one run in four innings -- a solo shot by Rick Ankiel off Guillermo Mota. It broke Mota's 20+ scoreless innings streak.

• Casey Blake went 4-for-5 and scored two runs. Matt Kemp had two other hits besides the game-winner and had an incredible stolen base in which he took off before Kyle Lohse even started his delivery.

• Jonathan Broxton got the save but didn't look all that impressive a day after he blew a crucial save attempt. His fastball didn't appear to have the same velocity as usual and he walked the leadoff batter, Joe Thurston.

ON DECK:

• Jason Schmidt (1-1, 7.88) and Tommy Hanson (5-1, 2.95) at 4:30 P.M. PST in Atlanta tomorrow.

The Dodgers beat the Marlins 4-3 tonight at Dodger Stadium. For a full recap and boxscore click here.

THE BARE ESSENTIALS:

• Casey Blake won it with a walk-off single in the ninth with the bases loaded, two outs, and a 2-2 count. He was facing Marlins reliever Luis Ayala and hit a bloop pop-up that found a hole between second and center.

• Hiroki Kuroda turned in only his second quality start this season, going six innings and giving up three runs.

• The Dodgers won this one on the strength of their bullpen, as Guillermo Mota and Jonathan Broxton turned in spotless relief (only one walk and no hits allowed in three innings), and they scored three runs off a total of five Marlins relievers. Mota extended his scoreless innings streak to 19. Broxton got the win, his seventh.

• Andre Ethier and Orlando Hudson each had three hits as Ethier continued his tear of late. Rafael Furcal went 2-for-5.

ETC...ETC:

• Marlins starter Rick Vandenhurk stymied the Blue, allowing a run in the first but shutting them down before exiting after five innings.

• After 14 hits last night, Florida had only six Saturday. No Marlin had more than one hit.

• Manny Ramirez went 1-for-5 and struck out in a key situation in the ninth.

ON DECK:

• Chris Volstad (7-9, 4.34) and Jason Schmidt (1-0, 5.40) tomorrow night in the rubber game of the three-game set.

Tonight's lineups:

Marlins
Coghlan, LF
Bonifacio, 3B
Ramirez, SS
Cantu, 1B
Hermida, RF
Uggla, 2B
Ross, CF
Baker, C
VandenHurk, P

Dodgers
Furcal SS
Hudson 2B
Ramirez LF
Ethier RF
Blake 3B
Loney 1B
Martin C
Kemp CF
Kuroda P

Few notes to pass along before Hiroki Kuroda and Oliver Perez -- making his first start since May 2 -- face off in New York.

31-year-old outfielder Mitch Jones, who spent 16 days with the big club and was designated for assignment last Thursday, cleared waivers and has been sent down to Triple-A Albuquerque.

Two more picks from the June draft have signed with the Dodgers in the last week: lanky high-school righthander Brandon Martinez and Oklahoma catcher Jeremy Wise. The Dodgers took Wise in the fifth round at 157th overall; Martinez -- who's yet to turn 18 -- was a seventh-round selection.

Lastly, our Clay Fowler has a nice feature on Matt "The Bison" Kemp, who's currently in fourth place out of five candidates in the MLB Final Vote campaign. Find out how to vote here.

4:10 p.m. PST first pitch tonight.

Meanwhile, with all of this Manny stuff going on in Albuquerque, the Dodgers have a game to play in Chicago. Hiroki Kuroda and John Danks tonight. Kuroda hasn't been sharp since returning from a strained oblique injury: he hasn't gone more than six innings and has recorded only one quality start out of four possible.

John Danks has been very up and down this season, recording a 2.74 ERA during April but struggling in May, raising it to 4.80 by the end of the month. His last two starts have been solid, however, as he's gone at least seven innings in both and allowed three runs in all.

Mitch Jones making his second career start at DH. Keep an eye on White Sox No. 9 hitter Gordon Beckham -- who, after being selected 8th overall in the 2008 draft, has struggled to a .196 average in 51 at-bats. He was called up on June 5 when former Dodger Wilson Betemit was DFA'd.

Dodgers
Pierre, LF
Furcal, SS
Hudson, 2B
Blake, 3B
Ethier, RF
Martin, C
Kemp, CF
Loney, 1B
Jones, DH

White Sox
Podsednik, LF
A. Ramirez, SS
Dye, RF
Thome, DH
Konerko, 1B
Pierzynski, C
Anderson, CF
Getz, 2B
Beckham, 3B