Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) – Manny Ramirez was a non-factor in his return to the Los Angeles lineup, but the Dodgers got home runs from four different players, all on back-to-back occasions, in an 8-5 triumph over the NL Central-leading Reds, snapping Cincinnati’s seven-game winning streak.
Ryan Theriot, Andre Ethier, Jay Gibbons and Matt Kemp each hit a solo homer, as the Dodgers bounced back from a 3-1 loss on Friday. That defeat snapped a 12-game home winning streak over the Reds.
Ramirez, who was put on the DL July 20, retroactive to July 17, due to a right calf strain, went hitless in three at-bats and fanned twice before being replaced in left field by Reed Johnson to start the sixth inning.
Chad Billingsley (10-7), who had lost his last two decisions, allowed seven hits and three runs over 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander, who also had seven strikeouts, posted his first victory since July 27 at San Diego.
Jonathan Broxton was back in the closer’s role and retired the side in order in the ninth to get his 22nd save.
It was a rough return for Cincinnati righty Johnny Cueto (11-4), who was out while serving a seven-game suspension for his actions in a benches-clearing brawl against St. Louis earlier this month. Cueto permitted five hits, four of them homers, five runs and walked three batters over three innings.
Joey Votto drove in two runs for the Reds, who had an eight-game road winning streak snapped. Their lead in the NL Central was trimmed to 3 1/2 games over the Cardinals, who beat San Francisco earlier Saturday.
Cueto walked three straight batters in the first inning, the last in the stretch to Casey Blake to force in the game’s first run.
The Dodgers then played longball in the second with Theriot and Ethier going- back-to-back with two outs. Gibbons homered to center leading off the bottom of the third and Kemp followed suit to left for a 5-0 margin.
Drew Stubbs scored on Votto’s groundout in the fourth, but Billingsley worked out of a jam in the fifth when he fanned Stubbs to leave two runners on base.
Blake doubled in a run in the fifth and scored on Jamey Carroll’s base hit to left.
The Reds scored twice in the sixth and seventh to make it a tight game at 7-5. Jay Bruce lofted a sacrifice fly in the sixth and Ramon Hernandez followed with an RBI double. In the seventh, Votto singled in Brandon Phillips and then Scott Rolen’s fielder’s choice grounder plated Stubbs. Rolen went to second on a balk, but was left there when Jonny Gomes flied out.
Blake and Carroll singled in the bottom of the inning off Jordan Smith. Brad Ausmus followed by hitting a chopper toward third base, and Rolen’s throw home was late, allowing Blake to score.
The Dodgers made room for Ramirez on the roster by designating infielder Juan Castro for assignment…Cueto fell to 0-3 lifetime against the Dodgers…Billingsley hasn’t given up a homer in his last 87 innings, the longest current stretch in the majors.