Taking the old baseball cliche "one day at a time" to the extreme, the Dodgers scored one run at a time to beat the Angels 5-0 Friday night in Anaheim, to capture the opener of the Freeway Series. The Dodgers scored single runs in each of the first four innings tonight, which was more than enough to back Hiroki Kuroda. The right-hander pitched seven scoreless innings to pick up his first win since May 17.
Tony Gwynn Jr. and Aaron Miles led the way for the Dodgers on offense, who saw a total of 21 men reach base. Gwynn led off for the Dodgers, and all he did was reach base six times, with two singles, a double, and three walks. His father, Tony Gwynn Sr. never reached base six times in a nine-inning game. Miles, who led the National League with a .419 batting average in June, picked up where he left off tonight with four more hits and a walk in five plate appearances. Miles has 29 hits in his last 59 at-bats.
Torii Hunter was hit by a pitch in the first inning, one of four HBP on the night (two by each team). Hunter left the game before the top of the second inning, with a contusion in his left hand. He was taken for precautionary ex-rays. Tyler Chatwood, who allowed just one run in seven innings last Saturday at Dodger Stadium, was not so productive tonight. The rookie allowed 12 hits and four runs in five innings of work, and got hung with the loss.
Kuroda was 0-6 in his last seven starts despite a 3.54 ERA during that span. Tonight matched the same number of runs of support for Kuroda than he received in his last five games combined, when he was in the game. Ethier added two hits for the Dodgers, including his 21st double of the season.
For more news and information on tonight's game, or on the two teams, be sure to read the SB Nation blogs Halos Heaven and True Blue LA.