Utley leads Dodgers' comeback against Orioles
LOS ANGELES -- Chase Utley registered three hits and drove in two runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied for a 7-5 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night at Dodger Stadium.
Yasiel Puig and Yasmani Grandal each hit solo home runs, and Kenley Jansen got his 25th save as the Dodgers used their fifth consecutive victory to remain five games behind the first-place San Francisco Giants in the National League West.
Corey Seager went 2-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to 17 games, a career high and the National League's longest this year.
Right-hander Joe Blanton (4-2) earned the victory with a scoreless inning in relief. Closer Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts for his 25th save.
Baltimore's J.J Hardy and Joey Rickard drove in two runs apiece, with Hardy hitting two doubles. However, the Orioles' lead over the Boston Red Sox in the American League East dwindled to two games following their fifth successive loss.
The Dodgers, who twice trailed by three runs, tied the score in the sixth inning before moving ahead in the seventh.
With the score 5-5, Seager lined a triple down the right field line against reliever Odrisamer Despaigne (0-1) to start the seventh. Justin Turner lined Despaigne's next pitch to left field for a sacrifice fly. The hosts added a run in the eighth on Howie Kendrick's RBI double.
Los Angeles tied the score with two out in the sixth. After Grandal walked, Will Venable reached base on a fielder's choice, moved to second on Despaigne's balk and came home when Chase lined a single to center field.
The Orioles took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning against the Dodgers' 19-year-old rookie, left-hander Julio Urias. Hardy, after fouling off the final three pitches of a 10-pitch at-bat, hit a line-drive double to right, plating two runs, and later scored on Adam Jones' line-drive single to center field.
The Dodgers narrowed the deficit to 3-2 in the bottom of the frame by hitting back-to-back home runs for the first time this season.
Puig led off by propelling a 77 mph curveball from right-hander Yovani Gallardo into the center field bleachers for his seventh homer of the season. Grandal followed by lifting Gallardo's 88 mph slider into Baltimore's bullpen down the right-field line for his second homer in two games and his ninth of the season.
The Orioles scored twice in the fourth to chase Urias, who threw 75 pitches. Rickard's single to left brought Matt Wieters and Hardy home.
Urias allowed five runs, six hits and two walks in 3 1/3 innings while striking out two.
Los Angeles scored twice in the fourth to draw within 5-4. With Puig at second base and pinch hitter Scott Van Slyke at first, Utley lined a single under the glove of diving first baseman Davis to send Puig home and Van Slyke to third. Seager followed with an opposite-field single that scored Van Slyke and extended the shortstop's hitting streak to 17 games, the National League's longest this year.
Gallardo threw 95 pitches in four innings and amassed five strikeouts but permitted four runs, six hits, three walks and two wild pitches.
NOTES: The Orioles are playing the Dodgers in Los Angeles for just the second time since the 1996 World Series, which Baltimore swept in four games. ... Orioles INF Pedro Alvarez went on the bereavement list Monday and will miss the three-game series in Los Angeles. ... Baltimore also optioned LHP Ariel Miranda to Triple-A Norfolk and recalled OF Dariel Alvarez from Norfolk and LHP Jayson Aquino from Double-A Bowie. ... Dodgers LHP Hyun-jin Ryu (left shoulder surgery in May 2015) will start Thursday against the San Diego Padres, manager Dave Roberts announced. Ryu has not pitched in the majors since 2014. ... Dodgers SS Corey Seager's 17-game hitting streak, is the third longest by a rookie in team history. ... Los Angeles' Will Venable made his first start in left field this season and just his third start overall. ... The game drew a crowd of 47,378.