Braves can't hold 2-run lead in 9th

By David O'Brien

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Los Angeles -- Braves reliever Peter Moylan escaped treacherous waters in the seventh and eighth innings Thursday night, but Rafael Soriano was taken under in the ninth.

Soriano gave up a three-run, game-ending homer to Andre Ethier with none out in the ninth, handing the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 win against the Braves and spoiling a strong performance by Derek Lowe in his return to Dodger Stadium.

"Bad luck, and I don't think I had my good stuff that I had all year," said Soriano, who gave up a pair of singles to start the inning before Ethier drove a 2-and-0 fastball to the right-field seats.

That set off an on-field celebration as the Dodgers stole a dramatic win in the opener of a four-game series.

"It's a tough game, but they're a good team and they're extremely good here," Lowe said of the Dodgers, whose major league-best record (67-42) includes 29 come-from-behind wins and a majors-leading 11 "walk-off" wins.

Chipper Jones had three hits including a homer, Lowe pitched into the seventh inning and left with a 4-2 lead, and the Braves' did impressive work -- until Soriano entered and gave up his second game-ending homer in 10 days.

The Braves had two-game winning streak snapped and slipped to 7-1/2 games behind National League East leader Philadelphia.

The bad luck Soriano and manager Bobby Cox both referenced was Juan Pierre's slow-bouncer to start the ninth. It went for an infield hit when third baseman Chipper Jones tried to bare-hand the ball - the only chance he had to get the speedy Pierre - and failed to field it cleanly.

Rafael Furcal followed by bouncing a single to right field, and what remained of a crowd of 46,399 was on its feet, stomping in the aisles of the old ballpark.

Three pitches later, Soriano (1-3) gave up his second walk-off homer in five appearances, after a two-run shot by Florida's Ross Gload in the bottom of the ninth on July 28.

"You just don't expect to see it - it's more a shock than anything else," Moylan said. "Shocking that he gave up a home run. He's been so good for so long, the law of averages says unless you're [Phillies closer Brad] Lidge, you're going to blow a few saves."

Soriano has a 10.13 ERA in his past seven appearances, with seven hits, six runs and two homers allowed in 5-1/3 innings.

In his 43 appearances before that, he converted 13 of 14 saves while posting a

1.41 ERA and allowing 23 hits, seven runs and one homer in 44-2/3 innings.

Lowe limited the Dodgers to two runs and eight hits in 6-2/3 innings in his second start against them in a week, and his first start at Dodger Stadium since pitching for the Dodgers the past four seasons.

He empathized with Soriano.

"What makes it a little easier for me [to deal with] is that I've done that," said Lowe, a former closer with the Boston Red Sox. "I've blown many a game in my day in Boston. No one feels any worse than Soriano.

"But there were eight other innings before that inning."

Lowe admonished himself for not making a play on Orlando's infield hit in the fourth inning. Hudson ended up scoring on Pierre's sacrifice fly to trim the Braves' lead to 3-2.

Lowe had predicted before the series that he would be booed lustily when his name was announced at Dodger Stadium, where he spent the past four seasons pitching for L.A.

But he wasn't booed until he walked off the field in the seventh inning, when the Braves had a two-run lead.

After Jones' seventh-inning solo homer pushed the Braves' lead to 4-2, the Dodgers raised the hopes -- and decibel level -- in a crowd of 46,399 with two singles in the bottom of the inning before Lowe left with one out.

Lowe gave up two runs and eight hits in 6-1/3 innings and has a 2.98 ERA (and 4-0 record) in his past six starts. He was 0-4 with an 8.61 ERA in his previous five.

With two on and one out, Ethier flied out to the warning track off lefty Eric O'Flaherty. Then Moylan, the Aussie sidearmer, silenced the "Mannywood" seating section by striking out Manny Ramirez on five pitches to end the inning.

The Dodgers mounted another serious threat in the eighth after Moylan surrendered a ground-rule double and walk to start the inning.

But after the Braves came up with a pair of sparkling defensive plays -- first baseman Adam LaRoche fielded Russell Martin's bunt and threw out the runner at third, and second baseman Martin Prado ranged left to rob Orlando Hudson of an infield hit - Moylan struck out Matt Kemp to get out with the 4-2 lead intact.

"Moylan came through brilliantly," manager Bobby Cox said.

LaRoche went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a walk to make him 11-for-21 with three RBIs and four walks in six games since being traded to the Braves from Boston. Matt Diaz also had three hits for the Braves, who are 2-2 on their seven-game Southern California trip that began with a series win at San Diego.

To open their long series against the Dodgers, Jones and the Braves couldn't have selected a pitcher more to their liking than veteran leftr Randy Wolf who hasn't beaten the Braves since 2003.

Wolf allowed nine hits and four runs in seven innings, and it looked like he would fall to 0-6 with a 7.04 ERA in his past 11 starts. But Ethier bailed him out in the ninth.

Jones had three hits off him including a seventh-inning solo homer, giving the third baseman a .392 average with four homers in 51 career at-bats against Wolf.

The Braves staked Lowe to a 2-0 lead in the second when Yunel Escobar doubled and scored on a two-out single by Diaz. After Diaz stole second, LaRoche singled to drive him in.