Thursday, September 11, 2014

Haren, Crawford pace Dodgers over Padres



Dan Haren tossed a four-hit shutout over seven innings last night and Carl Crawford exploded for four hits, three of them doubles, as the Dodgers posted a 4-0 win over San Diego to maintain a 2.5 game lead in the NL West.

The Dodgers have a travel day today to make the trip to San Francisco for a critical three game series with the Giants with the pennant up for grabs.

Haren, who relies on location and off-speed pitches to maneuver through an opposing team’s lineup, hit his spots and pitched out of a couple of jams to get the win. Haren has won five of his six starts since August 1 and posted a Kershaw-like 1.70 ERA over that span.

Crawford raised his batting average to .289 with the four-for-four night as the Dodgers kept the Giants at bay in the standings.

J.P. Howell and Kenley Jensen pitched no-hit ball in the eighth and ninth frames and Hanley Ramirez and Juan Uribe had RBI hits for Los Angeles. Justin Turner, starting for Dee Gordon at second, had a pair of hits for the Dodgers.

Los Angeles will start Hyun-Jin Ryu (14-6, 3.16) against Madison Bumgarner (17-6, 3.02) on Friday; Zack Greinke (14-8, 2.73) against Tim Hudson (9-10, 3.12) on Saturday; and Clayton Kershaw (18-3, 1.67) against Yusmiero Petit (5-3, 3.62) on Sunday in the weekend series at San Francisco. 

San Francisco will visit Los Angeles for a three-game set later this month as the two rivals battle down the stretch for the pennant.

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