Dodgers even series with eighth-inning rally over Phillies, 2-1

Los Angeles Dodgers' James Loney (7) celebrates with Juan Castro, left, as Jonathan Broxton, second right, and Jonathan Broxton react after they beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1.

Andre Ethier drew a bases-loaded walk from J.A. Happ that capped a wacky, two-run rally in the eighth inning and sent the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 Friday to even the NL championship series at one game each.

The comeback came after the Phillies pulled Pedro Martinez, who allowed just two hits over seven shutout innings. The Dodgers cobbled together second baseman Chase Utley’s throwing error, a bunt, a single by pinch-hitter Jim Thome and two walks.

The Phillies wound up using five relievers in the eighth - Brad Lidge didn’t get into the game.

Game 3 in the best-of-seven series is Sunday in Philadelphia.

Hong-Chih Kuo got the victory on three pitches in two-thirds of an inning of relief. Jonathan Broxton pitched the ninth to earn the save.

The Dodgers were down 1-0 when Casey Blake opened the eighth with a single off the outstretched glove of third baseman Pedro Feliz. Ronnie Belliard’s bunt single got past Chan Ho Park and first baseman Ryan Howard.

Russell Martin followed with a grounder to Feliz, who made a good throw to Utley. But for the second straight game, Utley threw away the relay. This time, it allowed pinch-runner Juan Pierre to score the tying run from the second.

After Thome singled off Scott Eyre, Rafael Furcal drew a walk from Ryan Madson that loaded the bases. Happ struck out Matt Kemp, but the rookie walked Ethier on a full count.

Former Dodgers pitcher Park took the loss, giving up two runs and two hits in one-third of an inning.

For the second time in this year’s playoffs, a visiting team let a late lead slip away at Dodger Stadium. Last week, St. Louis left fielder Matt Holliday’s two-out error in the ninth doomed the Cardinals, who got swept by the Dodgers.

Howard’s homer in the fourth off Vicente Padilla accounted for the only run until the eighth.

Tags: dodgers, Los Angeles, Phillies, SWRNN

This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 6:07 pm and is filed under Baseball, Local News, Sports . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.