Dan Haren’s 2014 season has been a roller coaster of ups and
downs.
Going through a stretch where he lost five games in a row and
was getting shelled every time out, Haren didn’t know how many more starts he
would get.
But Dodgers’ manager Don Mattingly never lost faith in
Haren. That faith was rewarded last night as Haren held the Braves to two runs
through six innings in a 4-2 win over Atlanta.
Haren (10-9) has now had two solid outings in row and given
the Dodgers a strong boost in the tail end of the rotation.
"I felt definitely the heat of not doing well for so
long," Haren said. "The self-doubt is going to creep into my mind. It
was just weird how it happened. I was unsure how many starts left I would have,
but it was pretty bad coming to the field and having so many bad starts in a
row. How many starts did I have left? Who's to say if maybe I did bad in
Anaheim, I'd throw out of the bullpen. I don't know."
Trailing 2-1 in the fifth inning last night, the Dodgers
plated a pair of runs to take the lead when Haren singled to left, Carl
Crawford doubled to the gap in right center, Yasiel Puig hit a high chopper to
short and Matt Kemp hit a bloop single to right that dropped in between second
sacker Tommy La Stella and right fielder Jason Heyward.
The Dodgers added an insurance run in the ninth when
recently acquired Darwin Barney hit a grounder that went under the glove of
shortstop Emilio Bonifacio. Barney hustled into second on the play, moved to
third on an Adrian Gonzalez ground out and scored when a David Hale breaking
ball bounced away from catcher Evan Gattis and Barney beat the relay at the plate.
Crawford paced the Dodgers with three hits in four trips and
Juan Uribe added a pair of hits for the Dodgers.
Brian Wilson, J.P. Howell and Brandon League pitched hitless
ball in the seventh and eighth innings to set up Kenley Jansen, who retired the
side in order in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts.
San Francisco fell in extra innings to the White Sox,
allowing the Dodgers to pad their lead to six games.
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