Los Angeles, CA – With Chris Capuano spinning 6 1/3 outstanding innings to lead the way, the Los Angeles Dodgers put together their first winning streak in more than two weeks with Sunday's 5-3 decision over the Miami Marlins.
Capuano (1-2) yielded just one run and five hits while registering seven strikeouts to notch his initial win in three 2013 starts, with the effort giving Los Angeles back-to-back victories for the first time since April 24-25. The Dodgers halted a string of eight straight losses with a 7-1 verdict over the Marlins in Saturday's middle test of this three-game set.
Scott Van Slyke supplied the offense by going 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBI in a fill-in start, with Matt Kemp also contributing a pair of hits that included the 1,000th of his career.
Carl Crawford also finished 2-for-4 while adding an RBI single in the triumph.
Adeiny Hechavarria delivered a two-run double in the ninth inning for Miami, with Justin Ruggiano recording a solo homer as part of a two-hit day.
Tom Koehler (0-1) pitched well for Miami in his first start of the year, permitting two runs on seven hits over five innings of work in a hard-luck defeat.
The Marlins completed a 10-game road trip at 3-7 and have still yet to win a series away from home this season.
Capuano had been battered for 11 runs in six innings over his previous two starts of the season, but was in command all throughout the day as he kept the Marlins' young lineup off balance.
After allowing a pair of singles in the opening inning, the veteran set down 14 of the next 16 hitters until Ruggiano launched a changeup deep into the left-center field seats with one out in the sixth.
The blast brought Miami within 2-1, with Van Slyke giving the Dodgers the early upper hand by leading off the bottom of the second with a long homer to straightaway center and Los Angeles reaching Koehler for another run in the fourth.
Skip Schumaker doubled with one out in the inning and Tim Federowicz followed with a single before Nick Punto lofted a sacrifice fly to stretch the lead to 2-0.
Capuano departed after issuing a one-out double to Derek Dietrich in the seventh, but replacement Kenley Jansen got out of the inning unscathed and the Dodgers broke the game open against the Miami bullpen in the bottom of the frame.
Consecutive singles by Punto, Juan Uribe and Crawford made it a two-run cushion, and Kemp was intentionally walked to load the bases in front of Andre Ethier's sac fly that brought home Uribe for a 4-1 score. Van Slyke then laced an opposite-field base hit to plate Crawford for the Dodgers' final run.
The Marlins managed to close the gap against Brandon League in the ninth, with Miguel Olivo and Dietrich reaching on singles before Hechavarria sent both in with a two-out double that cut the lead to 5-3. League regrouped to get pinch- hitter Greg Dobbs to ground out and end the contest, however.
Game Notes
Kemp's 1,000th hit came on a fifth-inning single in his 3,402nd career at-bat, making him the third-fastest player in club history to reach the milestone. Pedro Guerrero did it in 3,256 at-bats and Steve Garvey in 3,328 ... Van Slyke was in the lineup in place of Adrian Gonzalez, held out due to a strained neck ... All seven of Ruggiano's homers this season have come on the road, with four taking place on this trip ... The Dodgers have now won their last four games held on Mother's Day.
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