Herrera’s Diving Catch and Gordon’s Flying Triple Help Dodgers Win in Philly

Dodgers 4 9 1

Phillies 3 8 1

WP- Belisario (1-0)

LP- Papelbon (0-2)

S- Jansen (7)

HR- Polanco (2)

Clayton Kershaw was on the verge of losing three games in a row, and he has never won a game against Philadelphia in his career. Although Kershaw was not dominating today and only struck out 5 batters, he would snap his losing streak in the no-decision. It really was the Elian Herrera show today as his key single in the top of the ninth scored the winning run, and his diving catch in the bottom of the ninth preserved the win for the Dodgers. Ronald Belisario pitched a scoreless eighth inning and collected the win. Like I said in an earlier post, in order for the Dodgers to win right now they have to work as a team to overcome the obstacles that face them. Today’s game was a perfect example of a team effort which netted them the win.

The first inning at Citizen Bank Park begins under stormy skies. Bespectacled Vance Worley goes to work against the Dodgers. Dee Gordon strikes out on four pitches, and he is really struggling at the plate. Elian Herrera draws a four pitch walk which brings up Andre Ethier. Herrera steals second, and he’s almost picked off on a very close call. Worley gives up back-to-back walks as Ethier takes first base. Juan Rivera comes up to the plate for the first time since being activated from the disabled list. Rivera smacks a single to right field, and the Dodgers take a 1-0 lead as Herrera plates the run. Bobby Abreu singles to left field, and Ethier brings in the Dodgers’ second run of the inning. A.J. Ellis strikes out. With Jerry Hairston Jr. at the plate, a passed ball allows the runners to advance to second and third. JHair grounds out to end the inning. Worley ended up making 32 pitches in the inning.

Bobby Abreu makes a sliding catch to rob his former teammate Jimmy Rollins out of a bloop single. Rivera makes a nice catch in foul territory

for out number two. Hunter Pence flies out to right, and Clayton Kershaw sends the Phillies down in order. Kersh made 11 pitches.

Adam Kennedy comes up with a leadoff double in the second inning. Kershaw, a great bunter, sacrifices Kennedy over to third. Dee Gordon beats out a grounder to short, and the infield single scores Kennedy. 3-0 Dodgers. Gordon steals second, but he is tagged out by Rollins as he comes off the base too much in his slide. Herrera is called out on strikes.

Kersh has a very nice 1-2-3 inning again in the bottom of the second capped off with a Ty Wigginton whiff. He only has to make 9 pitches.

Vance Worley looks like a different pitcher in the third inning, and he sends the Dodgers down in order.

John Mayberry leads off the bottom of the third with a double hit off the left field wall. That’s the first base runner allowed by Kershaw. Freddy Galvis hits a long single, and the Phillies notch a run on the board, 3-1. Galvis moves over to second on a sacrifice bunt by Worley. Rollins pops up for the second out. Placido Polanco takes advantage of a hanging slider by Kershaw, and hits a two-run homerun to tie the game at three apiece.

JHair singles with one out in the fourth inning. Kennedy grounds out to second. Clayton Kershaw works a walk on a 9 pitch at bat. Hunter Pence robs Gordon of a base hit with a rolling diving catch in right field.

Carlos Ruiz opens the Phillies’ half of the fourth with a single. Kershaw strikes out both Shane Victorino and Wigginton for outs one and two. Kennedy draws an error on a Mayberry grounder in the act of throwing, but Galvis pops up to end the threat.

Joe Savery, lefty, comes in for the fifth to relieve Worley who had a pitch count. Herrera, Ethier, and Rivera all groundout in a quick inning.

Vance Worley pitched 4 innings, allowing 4 hits, 3 runs, no walks, and 3 strikeouts on 80 pitches.

Joe Savery, who remains in the game, strikes out against Kershaw. Jimmy Rollins hits a ball into the gap, and Abreu and Herrera are slow to get to it, and it turns into a triple. Rollins is thrown out at the plate by Dee Gordon on a groundball  fielder’s choice by Polanco. Pence hits a little nubber, and Kersh throws him out at first to end the inning.

Abreu whiffs to start the top of the sixth off, and A.J. follows suit with a whiff himself. Then for good measure JHair strikes out, and Savory strikes out the side. Don Mattingly proceeds to argue from the dugout on the strikeout calls on JHair and Bobby, and he is ejected from the game along with bench coach Trey Hillman. Tim Wallach takes over as manager, and hitting coach Dave Hansen is now the third base coach. #robotumpsnow

Philadelphia goes down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the sixth, but Victorino narrowly misses a homerun to left field.

Adam Kennedy leads off the seventh inning with a bunt single. Kersh bunts Kennedy over to second. Dee Gordon is hit by the pitch in his elbow. Charlie Manuel makes a double switch, and brings in Antonio Bastardo to pitch to Herrera. Herrera strikes out. Dre pops out.

In the bottom of the seventh things get very sketchy. Freddy Galvis gets a one-out single. Hector Luna strikes out swinging. Rollins singles. Polanco is safe on an infield single. JHair stops the ball from going into the outfield, but the ball gets away as he tries to scoop it to Dee at second and everyone is safe. Luckily Galvis doesn’t try to score on the play. Rick Honeycutt comes out to the mound to settle down Kersh, and he then gets Pence to ground out to leave the bases loaded!

On to the eighth. Rivera strikes out. Abreu singles. Alex Castellanos comes in to pinch run for Abreu, and he goes to second on a wild pitch by Bastardo. A.J. Ellis is hit by the pitch right in the shin. Hairston strikes out. Ivan De Jesus pinch hits for Kennedy, and he hits a little nubber to Polanco who bumbles the ball for an error. Bases are loaded with two outs, and James Loney comes up to pinch hit. Well we all know what is going to happen here…yep…a groundout to first.

Ronald Belisario is asked to pitch the bottom of the eighth in relief of Kershaw. Clayton Kershaw pitched 7 innings, allowing 8 hits, 3 runs, no walks, and 5 strikeouts on 104 pitches. Dre makes a great diving catch on a ball hit by Victorino that looked like a for sure hit. Mike Fontenot drills a ball right off Belisario’s arm, but he manages to pick it up and throw it out. Belly sends down the Phillies in order.

Jonathan Papelbonwill pitch the ninth for Philly. Dee Gordon hits it cleanly into center field, and Gordon takes off flying as he easily into third

for his first triple of the year! Elian Herrera then singles through the drawn in infield scoring Gordon, and the Dodgers take a 4-3 lead! Ethier bloops a ball into shallow left field where Mayberry can’t get it allowing the ball to fall. Herrera didn’t know where to run, and he’s thrown out at second on a force out. Ethier steals second with Rivera at bat for his first stolen base on the season. Alex Castellanos strikes out to end the inning.

Kenley Jansen will try to pick up the save and the win for the Dodgers. Jansen blows away Mayberry with his four-seamer for out number one. Freddy Galvis hits a line drive to center which looks like a for sure single, but out of nowhere Elian Herrera dives in like Superman to catch it! Wow! Jansen whiffs Luna, and the Dodgers take game one!

The Giants won their game earlier, so the Dodger win keeps them at three games back in the standings. The Dodgers are now 34-21 as they try to figure out a way to keep winning without their MVP caliber player and overcome the other slew of injuries that have crippled them. Tomorrow afternoon Chad Billingsley and Cliff Lee will battle in game two at 4:05 pm. It was a gritty, determined performance today from our Boys in Blue. Let’s keep it going!