Melky Cabrera's two-run single capped a three-run ninth and lifted the Atlanta Braves to a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday.
Dodgers closer Hong-Chih Kuo (3-2) pitched a perfect eighth but couldn't finish the two-inning save. Alex Gonzalez flared a single to left to start the ninth and Brian McCann followed with a single through the right side. After getting Troy Glaus to pop out, Kuo walked Brooks Conrad to load the bases before giving way to Octavio Dotel.
Dotel issued a run-scoring walk to David Ross, then gave up Cabrera's soft single through the left side to score the winning runs.
Peter Moylan (4-2) pitched a perfect ninth for the win.
The Braves' rally spoiled a strong start by Chad Billingsley, who allowed one run on five hits over seven innings with eight strikeouts.
The Dodgers took a 3-1 lead in the eighth when Brooks Conrad's throwing error on a soft roller up the third base line by Ryan Theriot allowed two runs to score. But Cabrera cut down Theriot at the plate on a potential sacrifice fly to keep the lead to two runs.
Los Angeles had grabbed a 1-0 edge in the first on Andre Ethier's RBI double. Atlanta tied it in the sixth when Omar Infante tripled and scored on Jason Heyward's sacrifice fly.
LA Dodgers | Atlanta | |
Chad Billingsley | Player | Tommy Hanson |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
7.0 | IP | 7.0 |
8 | Strikeouts | 3 |
5 | Hits | 5 |
1.29 | ERA | 1.29 |
LA Dodgers | Atlanta | |
Jamey Carroll | Player | Brian McCann |
2 | Hits | 3 |
0 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
3 | TB | 3 |
.500 | Avg | .750 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
LA Dodgers | 6 | 0 | 8 | .188 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Atlanta | 8 | 0 | 11 | .258 | 12 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 |