Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Chad Billingsley was strong through eight innings of work on the hill and drove in the game-winning runs to carry Los Angeles to a 4-2 win over San Francisco in the opener of a three-game series.
Billingsley (11-8) yielded two unearned runs on only two hits while walking a pair and fanning seven while combining with Hung-Chi Kuo to set down the last 10 Giants' hitters as the Dodgers ended a brief two-game slide.
Rod Barajas continued his hot hitting since joining the team he grew up rooting for with a home run and Casey Blake went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored for Los Angeles, which moved ahead, 7-6, in the season series.
Barry Zito's (8-11) misery continued as he was charged with four runs on four hits and four walks while fanning five to suffer the loss and remain winless in his last 10 games, the longest streak of his career.
San Francisco stayed three games behind NL West-leading San Diego, which lost at home to Colorado Friday night, but fell to three games behind Philadelphia in the race for the NL Wild card.
Blake led off the home second with a single but remained stationery after Zito fanned the next two hitters. Barajas then belted his two-run homer to left to put the Dodgers on the board.
Freddy Sanchez reached on a Rafael Furcal fielding error to open the fourth inning and moved to second on an Aubrey Huff infield hit. After a Jose Guillen grounder advanced the runners, Buster Posey's two-out single to left field chased home both runners to tie the game.
LA reclaimed the lead for good with a pair of runs in the home half.
Matt Kemp and Blake walked to begin the inning and advanced on a Ronnie Belliard sacrifice bunt. Reed Johnson popped out before Barajas was passed intentionally to get to Billingsley, who spoiled the strategy with a single that dropped in front of Guillen in right to break the tie.
Billingsley is 6-2 in 19 career games against the Giants, including 14 starts. He had thrown 19 1/3 scoreless frames against San Francisco before the Giants scored in the fourth...He has not allowed more than three earned runs in a start since July 16, a stretch of nine straight turns...Barajas has hit three long balls in seven games since joining the Dodgers...Zito is winless in his last nine starts and one relief outing dating back to a July 16 victory over the Mets...He had gone nine starts in between victories from April 29-June 13, 2001 and March 31-May 17, 2008...Zito's last win on the road was May 5 at Florida...He has allowed a home run in eight of his last nine starts...Sanchez went 0-for-4 and lost a nine-game hit streak during which he had collected 20 hits...Giants center fielder Andres Torres went 0-for-4 and has one hit in his last 16 at-bats.