Last night’s win gives the Dodgers the series win over the Pirates. It also moves them up to third in the NL West.
An even better surprise was the activation and start of Nomar Garciaparra. He went 1 for 2 with 2 walks in his first game back. He wasn’t expected until be activated until the road trip tomorrow, but Torre figured waiting two more days wouldn’t make much of a difference health-wise. Ramon Troncoso was designated to Triple A Las Vegas to make room for Nomar. Blake DeWitt will remain with the team on the bench for now.
The offense took off to rally in the first, with the first four batters getting singles. They ended up with four runs in the first and two in the second. Rafael Furcal was 4 for 4, with 2 RBI and a homerun in the second. Kent, Martin, Kemp, and Pierre all had two hits each.
The four-run cushion after the first helped starter Brad Penny cruise through 5 2/3 innings, giving up just one unearned run and five hits. Proctor, Beimel, Broxton, and Saito all came out of the bullpen to hold the Pirates at one run. Penny moves to 2-2 with the win.
The Dodgers head out for a five game road trip after batting .327 on this six game homestand, with 19 runs on 28 hits in the past two games alone.
