Matt Kemp, Dodgers Outslug Diamondbacks To Win 9-5
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Matt Kemp hit a three-run homer and a two-run single to power the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 9-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday.
Kemp's big night left him with an NL-best 80 RBIs, three more than Philadelphia slugger Ryan Howard. The All-Star center fielder now has seven career games with five or more RBIs, including June 4 at Cincinnati, when he drove in a career-high six runs in an 11-8 victory in 11 innings.
Ted Lilly (7-10) allowed three runs -- two earned -- and three hits in five innings for Los Angeles, surrendering solo homers by Ryan Roberts and Willie Bloomquist.
Arizona remained four games back of NL West-leading San Francisco, which lost 4-3 in 13 innings at Cincinnati.
Blake Hawksworth surrendered an RBI single to Roberts in the sixth, trimming the Dodgers' lead to 5-4, but Matt Guerrier got the final two outs of the inning, striking out pinch-hitter Gerardo Parra to strand runners at second and third.
Andre Ethier singled in a run in the bottom half. Kemp followed with his team-high 13th double-play grounder, but made up for it when he robbed Bloomquist of extra bases with a lunging catch in the seventh -- two batters before Justin Upton went deep.
Upton has six homers in his last eight games and 21 on the season, but he made a costly mistake that helped the Dodgers break it open in the seventh.
With one out and runners on first and second, pinch-hitter Tony Gwynn Jr. hit a fly ball to the warning track in right that Upton misjudged for a two-base error. James Loney scored on the play, then Jamey Carroll hit a sacrifice fly and Rafael Furcal followed with an RBI double to make it 9-5.
Arizona rookie Josh Collmenter (6-6) threw 81 pitches over 3 2-3 innings in the shortest of his 14 big league starts, giving up five runs and seven hits.
Roberts hit his 14th homer in the second, but the Dodgers responded with three in the third on Kemp's 25th homer.
Aaron Miles' sharp single went off Collmenter's lower right leg and ricocheted into foul territory behind third base. After a trainer came out to check on him, Collmenter gave up an opposite-field single by Ethier on an 0-2 count, and Kemp drove the next pitch to right-center -- becoming the first player this season with at least 25 homers and 25 stolen bases.
Collmenter hurt himself with control problems in the fourth, hitting Furcal and Ethier. Furcal was erased when Miles bounced into a fielder's choice. Ethier was plunked on a 1-1 count, loading the bases, and Kemp chased Collmenter with a two-run single to center that made it 5-2.
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