Dodgers blast past Diamondbacks

Next!

The Dodgers dismissed another Arizona ace with relative ease this afternoon, battering Brandon Webb and leaving the Diamondbacks looking as lost as right fielder Justin Upton during a 7-2 victory at Dodger Stadium.

Upton lifted his arms in surrender moments before Manny Ramirez's sixth-inning fly ball bounced off the warning track and over the right-field wall for a two-run double that capped Ramirez's five-RBI outburst and helped catapult the Dodgers into sole possession of first place in the National League West for the first time since April 4.

Sunday in the finale of the three-game series, the Dodgers will look to extend both their seven-game winning streak and half-game division lead against rookie Max Scherzer instead of veteran Randy Johnson, who was scratched with soreness in his pitching shoulder.

Maybe that will somehow work out in Arizona's favor. The Diamondbacks had aligned their rotation so that Webb and Dan Haren would face the Dodgers twice each over the past week, but that didn't turn out so well.

Webb's numbers: 15 runs in nine innings over two starts, both losses.

Haren's numbers: 10 runs in 10 innings over two starts, both losses.

Webb surrendered five hits, six walks and seven runs in 5 2/3 innings today for the Diamondbacks, who had held at least a share of the division lead every day since April 6.

Ramirez inflicted most of the damage as the Dodgers denied Webb (19-7) in his bid to notch his 20th victory for the second time in six days. Ramirez hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning, giving him 521 homers for his career and moving him into a four-way tie for 17th place on the all-time list alongside Willie McCovey, Ted Williams and Frank Thomas.

Ramirez also surpassed Reggie Jackson and Thomas to move into 20th place on the all-time RBI list with 1,706. It only seems like they've all come against Arizona, against whom Ramirez is hitting .621 with five homers, five doubles and 12 RBIs in eight games this season.

Ramirez's day at the plate actually got off to a rocky start. He flied out in the first inning and then stepped to the plate in the third after Webb had walked Russell Martin on five pitches and Andre Ethier on four to load the bases. Ramirez wasn't quite as selective, striking out on three pitches to end the inning.

But he blasted the next pitch he saw from Webb over the right-field wall in the fifth, prompting a curtain call and something resembling a group hug in the dugout as the Dodgers took a 3-0 lead. Webb further imploded in the sixth, walking Martin with the bases loaded to force in a run before being replaced by Juan Cruz. The reliever promptly walked Ethier to force in another run before Ramirez's fly ball eluded Upton in right field.

Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley (14-10) pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings with a major assist from reliever Corey Wade, who escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the seventh when he got Upton to hit into a 6-4-3 double play. Upton broke up the Dodgers' shutout bid in the ninth inning with a two-run single off reliever Jason Johnson.

ben.bolch@latimes.com