Hiroki Kuroda rebounds as Los Angeles Dodgers defeat Los Angeles Angels 5-0 – MLB Update
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ ace Hiroki Kuroda ended his career-worst losing streak to take his club into a 5-0 shutout victory over their state rival Los Angeles Angels in the series-opener at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, on Friday, July 1 to take a 1-0 lead in
the three game series.
Kuroda, who was struggling to snatch his momentum back, struck-out four batters and allowed one walk along with three hits over seven innings to take his sixth win of the series. Before earning this win, Kuroda has lost six-straight games, his career-worst
losing skid. Kuroda has now improved his season record to 6-9 with 2.90 ERA.
As Kuroda was making his come-back with the ball, the Dodgers’ batting line-up retaliated after losing two consecutive games against the Minnesota Twins. The struggling batting squad, who has managed just 21 runs in their last nine losses, achieved their
real batting potential as they blistered one run each in the first four consecutive innings.
Mike MacDougal and Javy Guerra each went for a no-score single inning to take their club into their 37th win of the season.
Andre Ethier kicked off the game with his sacrifice fly in the first inning and then Tony Gwynn, Aaron Mile and Matt Kemp each made an RBI single in the second, third and fourth inning respectively. Dodgers then remained scoreless in the fifth and the sixth
inning but they managed to get their fifth run in the seventh inning after the Angels’ starter Tyler Chatwood handed the ball to relief pitcher Bobby Cassevah.
Tyler allowed four runs on 12 hits, walked two and made just one strike-out over his five innings spell. Pitching one of his worst games in 2011, Chatwood reduced his record to 5-5 with a 3.83 ERA. Cassevah permitted only one earned run but walked three
batters in just one inning. Rich Thompson tossed less than an inning to be scoreless but Trevor Bell had a good game with his two no-score one-hit innings.
As the Dodgers’ have gained their batting impetus back, it will be an exciting second game, as Clayton Kershaw, who was declared the Player of the Week on June 26, will start this game.
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