Andre Ethier helps Dodgers walk off with a win
Dodgers 7, Brewers 5
His two-run home run (his second of the game) in the ninth inning gives the Dodgers the win over Milwaukee. Manny Ramirez also homers.
Andre Ethier was greeted by a mob of teammates at home plate Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium following his walk-off, two-run homer in the ninth inning, none happier to see him than James Loney.
The first baseman had opened the door for the Milwaukee Brewers for four unearned runs in the top of the inning when he was charged with two errors on the same play.
But Ethier's second homer of the game gave the Dodgers a 7-5 victory that moved them into a tie with Arizona atop the National League West standings.
Matt Kemp had led off the inning with a single to center field before Ethier whacked reliever Carlos Villanueva's 1-and-2 pitch over the right-field wall for his career-high 15th homer.
The crowd was in a decidedly different mood only a few minutes earlier.
With a runner on first and one out in the top of the ninth, Loney booted pinch-hitter Craig Counsell's grounder and then threw wide of Chan Ho Park as the reliever attempted to cover first base, allowing the runners to move up to second and third base. Ray Durham singled to drive in two runs and draw the Brewers to within 5-3.
Then, after J.J. Hardy grounded out for the second out, Park reached a 0-and-2 count on Ryan Braun before Braun hit a two-run, game-tying homer to left. Park was booed as he walked off the field and was replaced by Joe Beimel, who needed only one pitch to induce a groundout off the bat of Prince Fielder.
Kemp, Ethier and Manny Ramirez each homered off Suppan to pace a 14-hit attack and help the Dodgers win for the sixth time in seven games this homestand against other National League playoff contenders.
Kemp whacked Suppan's first pitch of the game into the pavilion in left-center field for his first career leadoff homer. After Jeff Kent followed with a one-out single, Ramirez crushed the first pitch he saw from Suppan an estimated 439 feet into the same left-field pavilion for his sixth homer in 16 games with the Dodgers.
Ethier made his own power play in the fifth, hitting a solo shot to left-center to give the Dodgers a 4-1 lead.
Clayton Kershaw pitched six strong innings in which he continually pitched his way out of trouble. He stranded a runner at third base in the first inning, stranded the bases loaded in the second and got out of a two-on, one-out jam in the fifth.
Besides Mike Cameron's fourth-inning homer, the only body blows Kershaw absorbed came courtesy of Suppan's line drive that deflected off Kershaw later in the inning. Kershaw then had to dodge a bat that flew out of Jason Kendall's hands before retiring him on a fly ball to Ramirez in which the left fielder lost his hat while making a charging catch.
Ramirez's dreadlocks were also on full display when he lost his batting helmet while trying to extend a seventh-inning RBI single into a double. He was thrown out at second but cheered nonetheless on his way back to the dugout.
ben.bolch@latimes.com
