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 Justin Sellers greeted reliever Burke Badenhop (0-2) with a leadoff single in the seventh and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Jerry Hairston Jr. Nick Punto drew a two-out walk from Michael Gonzalez, and Adrian Gonzalez followed with a drive off the glove of center fielder Carlos Gomez as Sellers and Punto scored to give Los Angeles a 5-4 lead.
The Dodgers extended the margin to 7-4 in the eighth on a run-scoring groundout by Hairston and an RBI single by Crawford.
Ronald Belisario (2-2) got the victory, striking out three over 1 2-3 hitless innings after following Paco Rodriguez out of the bullpen. Rodriguez gave up a go-ahead RBI single by Norichika Aoki, who ended up at third base after two-time Gold Glove center fielder Matt Kemp overran the ball for his fourth error of the season. But Aoki was thrown out at the plate by Belisario on a botched suicide squeeze with Jean Segura at the plate.
Brandon League gave up a run in the ninth, but got his seventh save in eight attempts to help send the Brewers to their second straight loss after a nine-game winning streak. League retired 2011 NL MVP Ryan Braun on a groundout with the potential tying run at the plate to end it.
Josh Beckett allowed three runs and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings, striking out five and walking two. The no-decision left him 0-3 in five starts with a 4.75 ERA and eight home runs allowed -- including Braun's seventh and Yuniesky Betancourt's fourth. Beckett is 2-6 with a 3.68 ERA in 12 starts since the Dodgers acquired the 32-year-old right-hander along with Crawford, Gonzalez and Punto in a nine-player trade on Aug. 25.
The only other time the three-time All-Star and 2003 World Series MVP was winless in his first five starts of a season was 2002, when he was 0-2 with a 3.42 ERA for the Marlins. This is the seventh time the 13-year veteran had an ERA of 4.00 or worse through his first five starts, including identical 7.22 figures in 2009 and 2010 with Boston.
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The Dodgers, who totaled only seven runs in Beckett's first four starts, staked him to a 2-0 lead against rookie Hiram Burgos with Andre Ethier's two-out RBI single in the first inning and Crawford's leadoff homer in the third.
The Brewers got one of the runs back in the fourth with a two-out homer to right field by Braun. They took a 3-2 lead in the fifth when Betancourt led off with a homer to left-center and Segura hit a two-out RBI single, but the Dodgers tied it in the bottom half on Gonzalez's two-out RBI double inside first base.
NOTES: Dodgers 2B Mark Ellis came out of the game with a right quad strain after running out a grounder to the pitcher in the sixth. ... Beckett's only 20-win season was 2007 -- the only time he ever won his first five starts. ... The Brewers were 4-0 at Dodger Stadium last year. ... Dodgers SS Hanley Ramirez, who has yet to play this season after undergoing surgery on his right thumb, is scheduled to begin a rehab assignmemt with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga on Saturday. He is still wearing a splint, and will continue to even when he is activated. "None of these guys want to be on the DL any longer than they have to be, but I don't him to come back just to be back," manager Don Mattingly said. "I want him to be ready to play and not have to think about his throwing and how he's going to grip the ball. So as soon as he's ready for that, we're ready for him." ... The Dodgers had only two errors in 72 total chances at the third base position before Hairston misplayed grounders by Braun and Gomez in the eighth.
[Associated
Press; By JOE RESNICK]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
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