LOS ANGELES(AP)
Hiroki Kuroda took a no-hitter into the seventh inning for the
Los Angeles Dodgers before the Houston Astros broke out for seven
hits and six runs in the eighth inning to pull out an 8-5 victory
Sunday.
Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence had RBI singles
against reliever Jonathan Broxton (1-1), and Brad Ausmus added a
two-run single against the right-hander as the Astros won for the
eighth time in nine games. Houston also completed its first
three-game sweep at Dodger Stadium since September 25-27, 1992.
Michael Bourn capped the rally with a sacrifice fly, giving
Houston a 7-3 lead.
Geoff Geary (1-1) pitched one inning for the win, and Jose
Valverde got the final out for his eighth save after Doug Brocail
gave up two runs in the ninth.
Houston starter Shawn Chacon ended up with his eighth straight
no-decision to start the season _ tying a major league record. He
gave up two runs and seven hits in six innings and struck out
three. The nine-year veteran, in his first season with the Astros,
joined left-hander Dick Stigman of the 1965 Minnesota Twins as the
only pitchers to have no-decisions in their first eight starts of a
season.
Kuroda allowed a run and just one hit over 6 2-3 innings, struck
out five, walked three and hit a batter in his eighth big league
start after 11 seasons with Hiroshima of the Japanese Pacific
League. The right-hander remained winless in his last seven starts
since his Dodgers debut on April 4, when he allowed a run and three
hits over seven innings in a 7-1 win at San Diego.
Kuroda was bidding to become the second Japanese-born pitcher to
throw a no-hitter in the majors. Hideo Nomo had one for Los Angeles
on Sept. 17, 1996, beating the Colorado Rockies 9-0 at Coors Field.
No Dodger has thrown a no-hitter since, but Nomo had another one
April 4, 2001, at Baltimore in his Boston Red Sox debut.
Kuroda's no-hit bid ended when Pence slapped a clean single
in the hole past third baseman Blake DeWitt with two outs in the
seventh and the Dodgers leading 2-0 on James Loney's two-run
homer in the first. Pence went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, one of them
on a ninth-inning double.
Kuroda walked Ty Wigginton and had a 1-0 count on pinch-hitter
Geoff Blum before manager Joe Torre replaced him with lefty Joe
Beimel. The switch-hitting Blum, who came in 0-for-10 right-handed
and 17-for-68 left-handed, drew a walk that loaded the bases after
Pence and Wigginton executed a double-steal.
Mark Loretta pinch hit for Chacon and Beimel walked him to force
in a run, trimming the Dodgers' lead to 2-1. It was only the
second RBI this season by Houston's pinch-hitters, who are
6-for-46.
Bourn followed with a towering drive to center field that fooled
Matt Kemp and would have cleared the bases had Kemp not recovered
just in time to make an outstretched grab at full speed with his
back to home plate. Kemp started in center while the slumping
Andruw Jones got the day off.
The Dodgers have lost four straight after winning 10 of 11.
Notes:@ Astros SS Miguel Tejada was hit by a pitch for the
second consecutive day, after getting plunked only once in 154
plate appearances over his previous 36 games this season. ... The
Dodgers next play Milwaukee, and will get a look at old pal Eric
Gagne for the first time since he left the organization at the end
of the 2006 season. Gagne set a major league record with 84
consecutive save conversions for them and won a Cy Young award in
2003. Gagne was demoted from his closer role Sunday after blowing
five of his first 14 save opportunities.
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