LOS ANGELES — The Angels failed to solve the riddle that is Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu for the first time.
Dodgers skipper Don Mattingly always talks about how much he loves watching Ryu pitch. Before the game on Tuesday night, Mattingly said Ryu is “really polished.”
He was a pro’s-pro one-hitting the Angels' lineup through seven innings. He threw a complete game, two-hit shutout and struck out seven to improve to 6-2 on the season.
Dodgers won when …
The bat of Luis Cruz came alive. Angels starter Joe
Blanton was rolling along. He’d retired the first eight Dodgers he faced
before Hyun-Jin Ryu hit a double off of the wall in the bottom of the
third inning.
Still, Blanton remained in control but it was one of the
most unlikeliest of heroes in Cruz who crushed a 2-2 offering from
Blanton over the left field wall for his first homer of the season.
Cruz
entered Tuesday night batting just .105 with a slugging percentage of
.105 as well. On the home run, he doubled his RBI total on the season.
"Babe Ryuth"
At least that’s what the Dodgers Twitter account refers to him as. Not only was he lights out on the mound, he now has six hits in 11 games this season — two of which are doubles.
Josh Hamilton
The Angels' starting outfielder was a late scratch from the lineup on Tuesday night with back spasms. The team said he would be available later in the game but he never made an appearance.
Matt Kemp
One night after being booed by the home crowd during an 0-5, four strikeout performance, the Dodgers' center fielder was dropped to fifth in the batting lineup by Mattingly in an attempt to take some pressure off of the Dodgers slugger.
Kemp responded with a 1-2 night. He was hit by a pitch in the second inning. He hit a sac fly that took Angels center fielder Mike Trout deep to the warning track in left center in the fourth inning to advance Andre Ethier to third base.
Kemp had a double to left field in the sixth inning and scored on an A.J. Ellis single to put the Dodgers up 3-0.
What's next
The scene shifts down the 5 freeway to Anaheim for two more games.
Chris Capuano (1-3, 5.60 ERA) is scheduled to take the mound for the Dodgers against Jered Weaver (0-1, 4.91 ERA), who is expected to make his return from a broken elbow suffered at Texas on Apr. 7.
It will be his third start of the season.
