With a sputtering offense devoid of power over the past week, Los Angeles flipped the switch in the bottom of the eighth inning as a trio of Dodgers went deep and the Boys in Blue defeated the Atlanta Braves 6-3.
Andre Ethier, Alex Guerrero and Jimmy Rollins provided the Memorial Day magic as they each hit homers in the eighth to give the Dodgers a commanding lead after the game was tied 2-2 going into the inning.
"Great inning," Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis said after the game. "Andre [Ethier] gave us a huge lift, and when Kenley came in, with the way he throws the ball, you know it's game over. Hopefully that’s a sign of a team that is turning the corner."
LA opened the scoring in the first inning after Ethier drew a bases loaded walk issued by Braves starter Williams Perez. The Dodgers twice had the bases loaded in the innings, but couldn't add more than a run. Perez appeared to struggle with his command in the first, but settled in shortly thereafter.
"He was better than I expected," Braves manager Fredi Gonzlez said of Perez "I liked the way he progressed and I think he did a very nice job. In five days, we'll be ready to put him back out there. He can build on this game."
The Braves scored back-to-back runs in the fourth and fifth thanks to Pedro Ciraco and Freddie Freeman. Both Ciraco and Freeman had two singles and an RBI each in the game.
Adrian Gonzalez got an RBI groundout to tie the game in the bottom half of the seventh inning. It was Gonzalez's 999th career RBI, one away from the 1,000 milestone.
Luis Avilan allowed his first run of the season thanks to Gonzalez. Prior to Monday, the left-handed reliever had not allowed a run in 19 innings of work.
The Dodgers exploded in the 8th when Andre Ethier kicked off the home run barrage with a solo shot to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.
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"Tie game. You want to go up there and get on base any way you can and not be overly aggressive," Ethier said of his at-bat. "I just wanted to get something up, and over the middle of the plate to swing at. That's what I did right there. I put a good swing on it, and fortunately it went out."
Alex Guerrero hit his Major League-leading third pinch-hit home run of the season two batters later and Jimmy Rollins followed with a solo shot of his own that landed in the Braves bullpen.
"It's a very good team to put the four-run inning together," Guerrero said. "It's something that we take pride in."
Brett Anderson was stellar in his second consecutive quality start allowing just two runs on seven hits over a season-high seven innings in the no-decision.
"I was able to get us through seven, and then we scored some runs," Anderson said. "After the seventh it was a good overall team win."
Anderson had previously pitched in three consecutive poor weather games as it rained in Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco in his previous starts.
"I almost had the grounds crew come out and spray me with the hose so I could feel similar to the last three starts," Anderson said jokingly. "I looked at the weather and there was a zero percent chance of rain which might as well be 50 percent on days I pitch."
Adam Liberatore (1-1) picked up his first career victory pitching a scoreless eighth inning in relief. Liberatore is scoreless in 12 of his 13 appearances this season.
With runners on first and third and no outs, the Dodgers went to the pen to bring in closer Kenley Jansen. Jansen retired the next three batters (allowing a late run charged to Chris Hatcher) to pick up his fourth save of the year.
The Dodgers and Braves wore specially designed hats and jerseys in honor of the Memorial Day holiday. The teams had special camouflage colors on their names, numbers and bills of their hats.
Before the game, three U.S. Army vintage planes flew overhead and 95-year-old Colonel Robert Friend said the ceremonial opening line, "It's time for Dodger baseball."
The Dodgers won their fourth consecutive game against Atlanta and have won seven of eight overall against the Braves. Los Angeles also improves to a MLB best 14-6 on Memorial Day since 1993.
Game Notes:
It was Tommy Lasorda garden gnome night as fans in attendance received a lawn ornament of their favorite Dodger skipper.
