New-Look Dodgers Crush Marlins
Gonzalez goes deep in first L.A. at bat as Dodgers down Marlins 8-2
Sunday, Aug 26, 2012 | Updated 12:54 AM EDT
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Second baseman Donovan Solano of the Miami Marlins tags out Hanley Ramirez of the Los Angeles Dodgers after Ramirez ran past the base on after an Andre Ethier single in the seventh inning on August 25, 2012 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California.
Adrian Gonzalez hit a three-run homer on the second pitch he saw in a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform, and Andre Ethier tied a franchise record with his 10th straight hit in an 8-2 victory over the Miami Marlins on Saturday night.
Clayton Kershaw pitched three-hit ball over eight innings for the new-look Dodgers, hours after they acquired Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett in a blockbuster trade with Boston.
Ethier and Mark Ellis also went deep for Los Angeles.
Gonzalez, a four-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove first baseman, batted cleanup between Matt Kemp and Hanley Ramirez, with Ethier dropped to sixth despite his four hits and four RBIs in Friday night's 11-4 win over the Marlins.
Ethier had his second straight four-hit game Saturday. He gave the Dodgers a 7-2 lead in the fifth with a leadoff homer against reliever Wade LeBlanc and added a bloop single to center in the seventh for his 10th consecutive hit, tying a club mark that was set in 1919 by first baseman Ed Konetchy.
Kershaw (12-7) struck out eight, walked two and yielded one hit in his final six innings. The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner is 5-1 with a 1.94 ERA in his last six starts, lowering his overall ERA to 2.84.
Marlins starter Josh Johnson (7-11) threw 89 pitches in three innings, giving up six runs and 10 hits and retiring only nine of the 20 batters he faced in his shortest outing this season. The two-time All-Star has lost his last four starts.
Johnson used up 45 pitches during the Dodgers' four-run first, which began with doubles by Ellis and Luis Cruz. Kemp singled Cruz to third and Gonzalez sent a towering drive deep into the lower seats in the right-field corner on an 0-1 pitch.
Ellis homered to left-center on the right-hander's second pitch of the second inning, and A.J. Ellis increased the lead to 6-2 with an RBI single in the third.
Gorkys Hernandez doubled in the top of the first and scored on Jose Reyes' groundout. Giancarlo Stanton led off the Marlins' second with his 28th homer and seventh in 10 games, a drive deep into the left-field pavilion estimated at 452 feet.
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