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Dodgers rally to beat Brewers

Photo

Associated Press

Milwaukee Brewers' Bill Hall reaches for home plate as San Diego Padres catcher Luke Carlin, right, reaches to make a tag during the seventh inning of their baseball game Thursday in San Diego. Hall scored to break a scoreless tie.

LOS ANGELES — Dodgers down Brewers 5-3

Chad Billingsley settled down after a rocky start, Jeff Kent singled home the go-ahead run in the fifth, and the Los Angeles Dodgers won their fifth straight, 5-3 over the Milwaukee Brewers here Friday night.

The win kept the Dodgers tied atop the National West West with Arizona, which beat Houston, 12-2. The second-place Brewers fell 5½ games back of the Chicago Cubs, 6-5 winners over Florida, in the Central Division. Milwaukee remained ahead in the NL wild-card standings.

Billingsley (12-9) went seven innings, allowing only one hit after giving up a two-run homer by Gabe Kapler in the first inning and an RBI single by Jason Kendall in the second. The Dodgers’ right-hander gave up five hits in all, walked two and struck out five.

Casey Blake hit a two-run home run for Los Angeles and Russell Martin added a solo shot in the eighth. Manny Ramirez provided Los Angeles’ first run with an RBI single in the opening inning.

Down 3-1 in the fourth, Blake drew the Dodgers even at 3-3 with his homer off Manny Parra (9-6) in the fourth.

The Dodgers took a 4-3 lead when Kent followed Matt Kemp’s one-out double in the fifth with his run-scoring single off Parra.

Martin added his 11th home run, a fly that ticked off Kapler’s glove and over the wall in left, against Carlos Villanueva in the eighth. It was Martin’s first homer since July 10th, ending a 29-game drought.

The Dodgers’ Jonathan Broxton, who stranded runners at second and third in the eighth by retiring Corey Hart on a fly that Juan Pierre caught on the warning track in right center, got the final four outs. The save was his ninth in 15 chances.

Parra, who has four losses and a no-decision in his last five starts, allowed four runs and 10 hits and struck out six in 5 2-3 innings. It could have been worse—David Riske replaced him with the bases loaded and two out in the sixth and ended the threat by retiring Kemp on a fly to center.

Game notes: Milwaukee all-star left fielder Ryan Braun, who missed his sixth consecutive game because of a sore lower back, took batting practice but isn’t expected to be back in the starting lineup until Sunday at the earliest. ... Los Angeles was coming off a four-game sweep of Philadelphia in a series that began a 10-game homestand by the Dodgers, who are in the midst of string of 21 of 27 games in Chavez Ravine that began on July 25. ... The Dodgers have won eight of the last nine against Milwaukee in Los Angeles. ... Heading into the weekend series, the Brewers had won 13 of their last 16 road games.