Unhappy return
LOS ANGELES — Brett Tomko was more than willing to pitch through intense pain to get the necessary innings for his first victory in over a month.
Tomko snapped a string of five consecutive losing starts despite leaving with a strained left oblique muscle, and the Los Angeles Dodgers gave former manager Jim Tracy a rude welcome back to Chavez Ravine with a 10-4 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates Friday night.
Tomko (6-6) won for the first time in six outings since May 15, allowing two hits and no walks through five innings before his injury forced him out after just 68 pitches.
"I was hunting that `W' because it's been a tough stretch for me," Tomko said.
The right-hander retired 13 consecutive batters after hitting Sean Casey with a pitch in the first. Pittsburgh's only hits against him were Jack Wilson's single and Ronny Paulino's double.
"It was just a matter of whether I could take the pain," Tomko said. "I was just trying to throw some strikes and see if I could get a couple of popups."
Jeff Kent hit a three-run homer, Jose Cruz Jr. had a two-run double and J.D. Drew also had two RBI, helping send the Pirates to their ninth consecutive loss.
It's Tracy's longest drought as a big league manager. The Dodgers had a pair of eight-game losing streaks during his five seasons with them, in May 2004 and June 2005.
"To stop it, we need to get back to the point where we get a well-pitched game," Tracy said.
Tracy, who guided the Dodgers to an NL West title in 2004, parted ways with the organization during the winter due to philosophical differences between himself and the front office. But his first season in Pittsburgh has been anything but a breath of fresh air. The Pirates have the second-worst record in the majors at 26-49 and were coming off a three-game sweep by the Kansas City Royals — who own the worst record.
"I know he got off to a really bad start and then they just got buried badly, so I was feeling for him," said Kent, who played one season under Tracy in Los Angeles. "I just know it's going to be a rocky road for him over there. But I think, at the end of the day, he'll earn the respect from his players and they'll play hard for him because they want to. That's how likable he is."
Jae Seo earned his first major league save, allowing four runs and five hits over the final four innings. The Dodgers built a 10-0 lead before Craig Wilson hit a two-run homer in the seventh, his 11th of the season and fourth in 16 at-bats against Los Angeles. Wilson added an RBI single in the ninth.
Oliver Perez (2-10) threw 96 pitches in just 3X\c innings and lost his fifth straight start. The left-hander allowed seven runs and six hits while tying a career high with seven walks, one of which forced home a run during a five-run fourth capped by Kent's seventh homer.
"The base on balls obviously killed him tonight," Tracy said. "When you're facing a good offensive club like the Dodgers are, you cannot create opportunities that set the stage for them to score runs."
Pittsburgh would have to do no worse than 37-50 the rest of the season to prevent Tracy from becoming the fourth manager in Pirates history to lose 100 games in his first season at the helm. Lloyd McClendon was 62-100 in 2001, Fred Haney 50-104 in 1953 and Guy Hecker 23-113 way back in 1890.
