PHILADELPHIA _ Adrian Gonzalez bashed a pair of home runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers rolled the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-2.
The victory improved the Dodgers' lead over the still-reeling San Francisco Giants to 1.5 games in the National League West. The Dodgers (67-52) can finish off a sweep of the Phillies on Thursday evening.
Justin Turner also went deep as the offense battered the overmatched Philadelphia staff. Scott Kazmir left the game in frustration, only able to last five innings, but rookie reliever Grant Dayton stranded the bases loaded in the sixth to keep the Dodgers in front.
Kazmir gave up eight hits, including three in the sixth inning, when he could not collect an out. He yielded two runs. The performance fit within the narrative of his first season as a Dodger: He did not perform particularly well, but at least he was on the mound.
One day last week, a conversation with Brett Anderson created a fitting visual for the staff's unrest. A reporter mentioned to Anderson that the only regular members of the group were Kazmir and Kenta Maeda. "After that ...," Anderson said, and then he pantomimed flipping a coin skyward.
Reliability matters to manager Dave Roberts. He acknowledged the unevenness of Kazmir's performance while still praising him for taking the ball during each turn through the rotation.
"Kaz has not hit his stride yet," Roberts said before the game. "I think that he's battled some physical things. But the one thing you can say about Kaz is he's posted. And in a year when we've had a lot of instability with players and pitchers, he and Kenta have been very consistent."
Kazmir tip-toed through the first few innings. The Phillies uncorked a series of line drives, including an RBI double by shortstop Freddy Galvis after Kazmir issued a leadoff walk in the second.
The Dodgers launched four home runs on Tuesday. Another on Wednesday gave them the lead. A single by Turner and a walk by Josh Reddick set the stage for Gonzalez in the fourth.
On the mound stood Phillies starter Jake Thompson. He turned 22 this year. Wednesday was the third start of his career. When Gonzalez worked a 3-1 count, Thompson tried to overpower him with a 91-mph fastball. Gonzalez sent a laser into the right-field seats.
The exit velocity of Gonzalez's shot turned heads. The height of the next homer drew attention. After a single by Corey Seager, Turner scraped the sky in left field with a two-run blast in the fifth. Thompson thought it was a flyout. He pointed upward as the ball traveled to left. It cleared the fence by a few feet, plenty of space for Turner's 22nd homer of the season.
Kazmir waded into trouble in the bottom of the fifth. He gave up a one-out infield single to Peter Bourjos. With two outs, he could not command his fastball against second baseman Cesar Hernandez, and got betrayed by his cutter against outfielder Odubel Herrera. He issued back-to-back walks to load the bases.
The Dodgers found a way to escape. Kazmir spotted a fastball at the knees of outfielder Aaron Altherr, who hit a grounder up the middle. Chase Utley scooped the ball and stepped on second base for the third out.
Kazmir would not record another out. Philadelphia first baseman Tommy Joseph parked Kazmir's first pitch of the sixth, a curveball at the shins, in the second deck. With the solo shot still reverberating off the empty seats, Kazmir yielded a pair of singles. Roberts removed him for Dayton.
The bases were soon loaded after Dayton gave up a single to Galvis, who had hit a crucial homer off him last week at Dodger Stadium. But Dayton recovered to record three flyouts to strand the three runners.
