Ted Lilly pitched six strong innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers took advantage of late San Francisco Giants mistakes in a 9-1 win in the opener of a three-game series on Monday night at Dodger Stadium.
Lilly allowed just one run on four hits in his six innings, improving to 4-0 on the season. Lilly has allowed five earned runs in five starts on the season, and struck out six and walked two on Monday.
A.J. Ellis was 2-for-4 and drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning with an RBI double. Ellis has reached base in a career-high 19 straight games and sports a .444 on-base percentage on the season.
Matt Kemp returned to the starting lineup Monday night and went 3-for-3, raising his batting average back over the .400 mark, at .406. The Dodgers plated five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to make this one a blowout.
Both teams committed three errors on Monday.
Clayton Kershaw takes the mound for the Dodgers Tuesday night in the second game of the series. Ryan Vogelsong gets the call for San Francisco.
For more news and notes about the Dodgers, be sure to read True Blue LA.
