The Dodger offense continued to struggle while an error allowed the Cubs to score two unearned runs to take their second straight from the Dodgers.
The Dodgers were held to one run on six hits. The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when James Loney singled moved to second on Matt Kemp’s walk. Blake DeWitt then singled to score Loney. Andre Ethier also went 2 for 3 to hit safely in seven of his last eight games. The offense left eight men on base, though, including leaving the bases loaded with one out in the eighth.
Hiroki Kuroda left in the seventh with a 1-0 lead and runners on the corners. Jonathan Broxton then came in and allowed Kuroda to be tagged for an unearned run when DeWitt fumbled Mike Fontenot’s grounder to allow the runner at third to score. Aramis Ramirez then singled in Alfonso Soriano. Kosuke Fukodome then doubled to score Fontenot to make it 3-1. Kuroda took his fourth loss and Broxton earned the blown save.
The Dodgers have now dropped four of their last five and drop to 4 games behind the Snakes.
In other news, Andruw Jones underwent his knee surgery today and everything went well as planned. He is still expected to miss 4-6 weeks. Jeff Kent was also scratched from the lineup just before the game due to back spasms, but it doesn’t appear to be anything serious.
