Dodgers throttle Pirates
LOS ANGELES — Esteban Loaiza pitched much better out of the bullpen than he did in his first start of the season. Hong-Chih Kuo wouldn't have needed Loaiza's help as early as he did had his control been better.
Kuo's pitch count prevented him from taking advantage of a rare offensive outburst by the Dodgers, and Loaiza pitched the final five innings for the win as Los Angeles routed Pittsburgh 11-2 on Tuesday night to end the Pirates' four-game winning streak.
Jeff Kent and Russell Martin led the way with home runs, and James Loney extended his season-opening hitting streak to 14 games.
Loaiza (1-2) allowed a run and three hits, struck out two and walked none. The right-hander, who made his big league debut with the Pirates in 1995 and has pitched for seven other teams since, is 2-0 in two appearances against them.
"Loaiza's a professional pitcher, and his job is to be prepared whenever he goes out there," Martin said. "That win was his for the taking, and he did a good job of keeping it that way. He really started getting in a groove, painting the outside corner and using his variation of his fastball with his cutter. He executed his game plan to perfection."
Kuo, making his second start this season and the first that he was scheduled to make, threw 75 pitches over four innings. The left-hander allowed a run and two hits, struck out six and walked three — all consecutively.
A bases-loaded walk to Ronny Paulino in the first gave Pittsburgh the lead, but the Dodgers pulled ahead 3-1 in the fourth on a two-run double by Andre Ethier and Loney's run-scoring single.
Loney is one of two players to hit safely in each of his team's first 14 games this year, along with Pittsburgh's Nate McLouth. Kansas City's Billy Butler had his 13-game streak snapped by the Seattle Mariners earlier Tuesday.
McLouth, whose three-run homer in the ninth off closer Takashi Saito sent the Pirates to a 6-4 win on Monday, kept his streak alive with a first-inning single and hit a broken-bat double in the eighth. He is the first Pirates player to open a season with a 14-game hitting streak since Hall of Famer Willie Stargell in 1976.
Los Angeles extended the lead to 8-1 in the fifth, scoring five runs with two outs. Rafael Furcal hit an RBI single and Matt Kemp followed with a triple that chased Matt Morris (0-2). Paul Dumatrait relieved and plunked Ethier with a 1-2 pitch before Kent drove a 2-1 delivery deep into the left-field pavilion.
