Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) – Wandy Rodriguez worked six scoreless innings and Chris Johnson went 2-for-4 with an RBI double to send the Houston Astros to a 7-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the middle tilt of a three-game set at Dodger Stadium.
Rodriguez (5-3) scattered seven hits and issued one walk while fanning six to win his third straight decision.
“I felt very good, I used everything tonight,” Rodriguez said. “Winning these two games, we’re feeling better as a team.”
Jeff Keppinger went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs for the Astros, who have won the first two in the series.
Rubby De La Rosa (3-1) worked 4 2/3 innings in defeat, charged with six hits and five runs for the Dodgers, who have lost five in a row and eight of their past 10 contests.
Andre Ethier collected two hits including a double, and Dee Gordon hit safely twice to up his average to .326.
The game remained scoreless until Houston broke it open in the fifth, striking for five runs.
Two singles and a walk loaded the bases, followed by two quick outs. Michael Bourn worked a base on balls to force in the first run, and the second came courtesy of a Jason Bourgeois infield single. The big strike came from Keppinger, who slapped a two-run single into the right-center field gap.
De La Rosa then re-loaded the bases by walking Carlos Lee, and prompted his exit. Mike MacDougal came in and fired a wild pitch to plate Houston’s fifth and final run of the burst.
“Rubby was pretty good tonight, he looks like he could be special, this is just a step along the way,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said of his starter. “In the fifth, everything steamrolled on us. We have to turn the page, we can’t feel sorry for ourselves.”
Houston added two runs in the eighth on an RBI double down the left-field line by Johnson and an RBI single by Carlos Corporan, to increase the lead to 7-0.
The Dodgers threatened in the eighth, putting two runners on with no outs against Astros reliever Wilton Lopez. Juan Uribe grounded into a double play, leaving LA with a man at third and two down, but Marcus Thames grounded weakly to second to end the inning.
Fernando Rodriguez tossed a perfect ninth to seal the win.
Los Angeles threatened in its first at-bat, putting runners on first and second with two outs after Ethier doubled and Matt Kemp was intentionally walked. Rodriguez recovered to induce a fly out from Juan Uribe.
Game Notes
The Dodgers were blanked for the seventh time this season, and fifth time at home…The teams met for the second time this season. In the previous series, the Astros took two of three from LA at Houston from May 23-25…The Astros improved to 7-9 against the NL West while the Dodgers fell to 10-16 against the Central…Dodgers’ catcher Rod Barajas left the game in the fifth inning…This is the third time Houston has kept an opponent off the scoreboard…The last time the Dodgers collected 10 hits and were shutout was September 29, 1971, against the Astros.