Reds Edge Dodgers 3-2
LOS ANGELES (AP) —Johnny Cueto pitched seven sharp innings, Joey Votto hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Cueto (4-2) limited the Dodgers to an unearned run and five hits in a reprise of his June 4 matchup with Clayton Kershaw at Cincinnati, where neither got a decision in the Dodgers' 11-8 victory in 11 innings. It was the 100th career start by Cueto, who beat Los Angeles for the first time in five starts.
Logan Ondrusek pitched a scoreless eighth and Francisco Cordero got three outs for his 14th save in 16 chances and the 304th of his career, tying Jeff Montgomery for 19th place.
Cordero walked NL home run leader Matt Kemp with one out, then threw over to first base six times before Kemp stole second and scored on James Loney's single. But pinch-hitter Casey Blake struck out and Rod Barajas popped out with the potential tying run at second.
Kershaw allowed a run and four hits over seven innings in his 100th big league appearance and 98th start. The 23-year-old lefty warmed up for the eighth, but manager Don Mattingly lifted him after the Reds sent up Miguel Cairo to pinch-hit.
Cairo greeted Blake Hawksworth (1-2) with a single and advanced on Drew Stubbs' first sacrifice bunt of the season. He was held up at third on Brandon Phillips' sharp single to left, but scored when Votto greeted Scott Elbert with a single on the left-hander's second pitch.
Stubbs drove in the Reds' third run with a ninth-inning single off Mike MacDougal.
Kershaw had given up six runs in each of his previous two starts —both of them no-decisions —after shutting out Florida with a two-hitter for his fourth straight victory. Votto, who hit a three-run homer against Kershaw the last time they faced each other, struck out his first two times up and was 0 for 3 against him.
Scott Rolen, who sat out Monday because of a sore left foot, tied the score 1-all with a fourth-inning double to left after Kershaw walked Jay Bruce with two outs. Bruce tried to score behind Stubbs on the hit, but was thrown out at the plate on a relay from Tony Gwynn Jr. to shortstop Dee Gordon to Barajas.
Stubbs was 0 for 12 against Kershaw before his leadoff single.
Jamey Carroll's hard but clean takeout slide at second base enabled the Dodgers to score an unearned run in the first. Gordon led off with a single and Carroll walked before Andre Ethier hit what appeared to be an easy double-play grounder to shortstop Paul Janish. But Carroll upended second baseman Phillips, whose hurried relay to first glanced off Votto's glove as the fleet-footed Gordon sped home.
The error was Phillips' second this season.
NOTES: Ethier has gone five games (22 at-bats) since his last RBI and 17 games (63 at-bats) since his last home run. ... Brooklyn Dodgers great Don Newcombe, the 1956 Cy Young Award winner and NL MVP, spent his 85th birthday at Chavez Ravine. Also on hand was Reds Hall of Fame 2B Joe Morgan, currently a special adviser to baseball operations for the club. ... Reds manager Dusty Baker turns 62 on Wednesday. The last two times he was in uniform on his birthday, it wasn't very pleasant for him. Last year, the Dodgers beat the Reds 12-0 at Cincinnati. In 2008, the Reds lost 9-0 to Boston at Great American Ball Park. ... Kershaw had a 12-pitch at-bat his first time up, fouling off six 3-2 offerings before lining a single to left-center for his ninth hit of the season. He recorded his 600th career strikeout when he fanned Votto in the first inning. ... Kemp hit a bloop single just out of the reach of Votto in the fourth, but took too wide a turn at first base and was erased in a 3-4-1-6-4-1 rundown. ... The Dodgers' bullpen has posted only seven saves in 32 games since May 11, by six different pitchers —including RHP Jonathan Broxton, who has been sidelined since May 2 because of a bone bruise on his elbow. Broxton threw a simulated game Tuesday.
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