Dodgers Rout Blue Jays, Move into 1st Place

(AP) Ellis has 5 RBIs, Dodgers rout Blue Jays 14-5
By IAN HARRISON
Associated Press
TORONTO
A.J. Ellis hit a two-run homer and drove in a career-best five runs, Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched 5 1-3 innings, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 14-5 on Monday night, their fourth straight victory and 21st in 26 games.

Skip Schumaker added a three-run shot as the Dodgers moved a season-high four games above .500 and won their eighth straight road game, their longest streak since a nine-game run in July 2004.

Ellis went deep in the second inning and had RBI singles in the third, sixth and seventh. He also reached on first baseman Adam Lind’s fielding error in the fourth.

Toronto made a season-high five errors and lost its fifth straight game. The Blue Jays have lost 12 of 16 overall.

Ryu (8-3) had gone 4-1 with a 2.25 ERA in 10 starts before matching a season worst by giving up five runs in five innings at Arizona on July 10. He was better against the Blue Jays, allowing four runs and nine hits, all singles, in 5 1-3 innings. Ryu walked two and struck out three.

A large group of Korean fans cheered loudly when Ryu’s name was announced before the game, and again when he walked in from the bullpen. Waving flags and chanting, they kept up the noise through much of his outing.

Jose Dominguez got two outs, J.P. Howell worked two innings and Chris Withrow finished.

The Dodgers played without outfielder Matt Kemp, who is expected to miss the three-game series with a sprained left ankle.

Kemp came off the 15-day disabled list Sunday after sitting out 11 games with a sore left shoulder. He went 3 for 4 with a home run in a win over Washington, but limped off after sliding into catcher Kurt Suzuki on a force play in the ninth.

Yasiel Puig started in center Monday and Andre Ethier was the DH. Manager Don Mattingly said Ethier would likely return to center for the next two games.

Puig prevented a run with a sensational leaping catch at the wall on J.P. Arencibia’s deep drive in the eighth.

The Dodgers roughed up Blue Jays starter Josh Johnson, who was charged with five runs and seven hits in two-plus innings. He walked one and struck out two.

Johnson (1-6) is 0-4 with a 7.71 ERA in five starts since his lone victory of the season, June 23 against Baltimore.

Los Angeles batted around in a four-run second. Ethier hit a one-out double and Ellis followed with a homer, his fifth. Three batters later, Carl Crawford and Puig hit back-to-back RBI singles.

Ethier doubled and scored on Ellis’ single off reliever Aaron Loup in the third, but Toronto got two in the bottom half on RBI singles by Melky Cabrera and Mark DeRosa.

Adrian Gonzalez walked and scored on Ethier’s double play grounder in the fourth, and the Dodgers piled on with four more in the sixth against Dustin McGowan and Brett Cecil.

Ellis and Crawford had run-scoring singles, Juan Uribe hit an RBI grounder and Mark Ellis added a sacrifice fly.

Toronto chased Ryu and cut it to 10-4 in the bottom half. Brett Lawrie hit an RBI grounder and Colby Rasmus scored on a wild pitch by Dominguez, but the Dodgers added four more off Steve Delabar in the seventh, three of them on Schumaker’s second deck homer to right, his first.

DeRosa doubled and scored on Rasmus’ single off Howell in the eighth, but Puig robbed Arencibia of extra bases on the next play.

NOTES: The Dodgers are 5-5 in interleague games. … Toronto’s most recent five-error game was May 18, 2011, against Tampa Bay. The Blue Jays made a team-worst six errors at Texas on May 13, 1982. … Paul Stanley of the rock group KISS threw out the first pitch.