Johnson's Grand Slam Leads Arizona Past Dodgers
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chris Johnson hit a grand slam in his first game with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Paul Goldschmidt hit a three run shot in the first inning — both off Aaron Harang — in a 7-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night.
Trevor Cahill (9-9) allowed a run and six hits over six innings with four strikeouts and three walks. The right-hander, acquired from Oakland in a multiplayer trade last December, is 3-0 with a 1.85 ERA in four career starts against the Dodgers.
Johnson, acquired Sunday in a trade with Houston, started at third base and gave the D-backs a 7-0 lead with his second career slam. It followed a two-out intentional walk to lefty-swinging Miguel Montero, who was 8 for 15 lifetime against Harang at that point — and had reached base safely in 18 of his previous 24 plate appearances overall.
In Johnson's previous at-bat, he grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.
Harang (7-6) gave up a season-high seven runs over five innings, along with nine hits and three walks. The 35-year-old right-hander is 1-7 with a 3.26 ERA in his last 12 starts against the Diamondbacks since beating them in consecutive starts with Cincinnati back in August 2003. During that stretch, they have homered off him 10 times.
The Dodgers, who concluded their 7-3 road trip with a three-game sweep at San Francisco that pulled them into a tie for the NL West lead, were coming off their first back-to-back shutouts of the season. But Harang found himself trailing 3-0 after just eight pitches, as Goldschmidt deposited his 1-0 offering behind the center field fence for his 14th homer after singles by Gerardo Parra and Aaron Hill.
Cahill, who allowed first-inning runs in each of his previous seven outings, gave up a leadoff walk to Mark Ellis and a single by Juan Rivera — who came in 1 for 15 against the right-hander. But Matt Kemp struck out and Andre Ethier grounded into a double play. Ethier, who had 55 RBIs in his first 63 games to lead the NL, has only six in 29 games and 102 at-bats since then — and none in his last nine contests.
Cahill, who came in with the second-best groundball-to-flyball ratio in the NL behind St. Louis' Jake Westbrook, escaped a jam in the third when Rivera grounded into an inning-ending double play. The Dodgers had runners at the corners in the fourth, but Luis Cruz flied out. He was 0 for 4, ending his career-best hitting streak at 12 games.
The Dodgers' runs came on an RBI groundout by Jerry Hairston Jr. in the sixth inning and an RBI double by Kemp in the eighth against former Dodger Takashi Saito.
NOTES: Johnson is the first player in the Diamondbacks' 15-year history to hit a grand slam in his first game with the club. ... Arizona 1B Lyle Overbay was designated for assignment to free up a roster spot for Johnson. ... 3B Hanley Ramirez was 0 for 4 with a stolen base in his first home game for the Dodgers since they acquired him and LHP Randy Choate last Wednesday in a trade that sent Nathan Eovaldi and minor league RHP Scott McGough to Miami. In his 18 previous games at Dodger Stadium, Ramirez batted .388 with three homers and 10 RBIs. ... Cahill is 9-0 with a 2.37 ERA in 10 starts this season when getting three or more runs of support, and 0-9 with a 5.23 ERA in his other 11 starts.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
