Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) – Brett Myers went the distance, leading the Houston Astros to a 7-3 drubbing of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Myers (3-6) gave up only four hits in his nine innings of work, striking out six and walking one.
“It was a little rough early,” Myers said. “They were aggressive, but I was able to hit my spots. I’ve thrown some shutouts, so this was not the best game I’ve ever pitched.”
Clint Barmes smacked a pair of doubles and collected two RBI, while Carlos Lee went 3-for-5 with an RBI for Houston, which snapped a three-game skid and posted just its second win in nine contests.
Andre Ethier blasted a two-run home run while James Loney had two of the four Dodger hits. Aaron Miles added the other in LA’s fourth straight loss.
Ted Lilly (5-6) lasted only 5 1/3 innings, as he gave up eight hits and was charged with five earned runs.
Dee Gordon worked a walk and Miles slapped a single to left to put the first two runners of the inning on base for LA in its first at-bat. Gordon advanced to third on Ethier’s fielder’s choice and scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt Kemp to give the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead.
Houston came back to knot the score at one in the fourth. Lee hit a one-out single to right, stole second and was chased home on a double to left by Chris Johnson.
The Astros broke the game open with five runs in the sixth. Jeff Keppinger stroked a ground-rule double to left and scored on a single to center by Lee.
The inning continued with a single by Johnson and a walk to Brett Wallace to load the bases with one out. Barmes followed with a double to right, scoring both Lee and Johnson. After the Dodgers elected to intentionally walk Carlos Corporan to load the bases a second time, Jason Bourgeois made the Dodgers pay by poking a single to second, which enabled two more runs to come home on a throwing error by Miles. The second baseman picked the ground ball cleanly but hurried his throw to second, causing it to be offline.
Houston added another run in the eighth on a wild pitch by Dodgers’ reliever Blake Hawksworth that scored Wallace. Wallace walked to start the inning and advanced to third on a double by Barmes before coming home on Hawksworth’s wild pitch.
Los Angeles got two runs back in the ninth on Ethier’s two-run home run, his sixth of the season.
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly noted his team’s lack of patience at the plate, as Myers got through the game throwing 98 pitches.
“To be at 80 pitches after eight innings, you’ve got to have a little more than that,” Mattingly said.