Reds Hand Dodgers' 1st 3-Game Series Sweep Since '04
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Scott Rolen got three hits and drove in three runs, leading the Cincinnati Reds over Los Angeles 7-2 Wednesday for their first three-game sweep of the Dodgers since 2004.
The Reds won on manager Dusty Baker's 62nd birthday. His teams are 5-11 on his birthday during his 18 seasons as a manager.
Rolen hit a pair of RBI doubles and added an run-scoring single. Ryan Hanigan and Fred Lewis each drove in two runs.
The Dodgers dropped a season-high eight games under .500. This was the first time they were swept in a three-game series at home since June 12-13, 2010, by the Angels.
Travis Wood (5-4) allowed one run, five hits and five walks over six innings. He did not retire more than two batters in a row at any point.
Chad Billingsley (5-6) labored through four innings with 88 pitches. He allowed seven runs, nine hits and four walks. Last Friday at Colorado, he was tagged for a career-worst 13 hits over 4 2-3 innings.
Cincinnati took a 2-1 lead in the second with RBI doubles by Rolen and Lewis. The Reds made it 6-1 in the third on Rolen's run-scoring single, a bases-loaded walk to Lewis and a two-run single by Hanigan.
Handed a five-run cushion, Wood promptly plunked the slumping Andre Ethier with his first pitch in the bottom of the third, the first time the Dodgers was hit this season. But left fielder Jonny Gomes raced toward the foul line and made a diving backhanded grab across the line to rob James Loney of a two-run double.
Rolen made it 7-1 in the fourth with his second RBI double, giving him his first three-RBI game since April 6 against Houston. The six-time All-Star third baseman, who has been on the disabled list six times since driving in a career-high 124 runs in 2004 with St. Louis, is 15 hits shy of 2,000 and five doubles away from 500.
The Dodgers had Wood in trouble in the first after a two-out double by Ethier, an intentional walk to Matt Kemp and another walk to Juan Uribe. The left-hander then walked the .163-hitting Marcus Thames to force in a run, but minimized the damage by retiring Loney on a line drive to right field. Loney is batting just .203 with runners in scoring position.
NOTES: Ethier is hitting .250 with two homers, 15 RBIs and 29 strikeouts in 37 games since getting the final hit of his 30-game hitting streak on May 6. In his first 32 games, he hit .379 with three homers and 17 RBIs. Ethier has gone six games (25 at-bats) since his last RBI and 18 games (66 at-bats) since his last home run. ... During his 19-year playing career with the Braves, Dodgers, Giants and Athletics, Baker was in the starting lineup on his birthday 10 times. He was 13 for 35 with two home runs and nine RBIs in those games, and his teams were 6-4. ... The seven runs against Billingsley were one shy of the total he allowed over 42 innings in his six previous home starts this season. He came in 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA against the Reds at Dodger Stadium. ... Rolen is 8 for 15 lifetime against Billingsley with five RBIs.
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