Kuroda pitches Dodgers past White Sox

[June 24, 2009]  CHICAGO (AP) -- Hiroki Kuroda allowed four hits in 8 2-3 innings, James Loney hit a two-run homer, and the Los Angeles Dodgers continued to thrive without Manny Ramirez, beating the Chicago White Sox 5-2 on Tuesday night.

While Ramirez was going hitless in two at-bats for Triple-A Albuquerque in his first game since getting suspended May 7 for violating Major League Baseball's drug policy, the Dodgers were improving to an MLB-best 47-24.

They are 26-16 so far during their star slugger's 50-game punishment, baseball's top record in that span.

Kuroda (2-3) made winning without Manny look easy. He allowed only Paul Konerko's second-inning homer and Jermaine Dye's single until there were two outs in the ninth. Kuroda then gave up two more hits, including Dye's RBI single, before Jonathan Broxton earned his 18th save by striking out Jim Thome.

Kuroda fanned nine and walked none in outpitching John Danks (5-6), who again received little support at U.S. Cellular Field. Chicago is last in the AL with 119 runs in home games and has scored two runs or fewer in six of Danks' seven home starts.

Danks allowed three runs on only three hits -- all in the first two innings -- and retired 17 of the final 18 batters he faced over seven innings, but the White Sox lost for the ninth time in their last 12 home games.

Orlando Hudson's RBI double gave the Dodgers a first-inning lead and Loney's fifth homer made it 3-0 in the second.

Konerko's home run cut the Dodgers' lead to two and that's how things stayed until the eighth, when Casey Blake hit a two-run single off reliever Octavio Dotel.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was ejected by home-plate umpire Joe West earlier in the eighth for arguing ball-and-strike calls. It was Guillen's second ejection this season and 18th of his career.

NOTES: The Dodgers snapped a 50-year losing streak on Chicago's South Side. They suffered a three-game sweep in 2005 -- the teams' only other meeting here after L.A. beat the White Sox in the 1959 World Series. ... The Dodgers are 23 games over .500 for the first time since they ended the 2004 season 24 games over. ... White Sox DH Jim Thome, limited to pinch-hitting duties in eight games at NL parks, went 0-for-4 in his return to the lineup.

[Associated Press]

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