DODGERS PEN OUTLASTS D-BACKS IN 15-INNING MARATHON
Lo Duca's 2-Out Walk-Off Secures Victory

LOS ANGELES, July 5 (AP) - In an extended battle of the bullpens, the Los Angeles Dodgers came out on top.  Five Dodgers relievers combined to shut out the Arizona Diamondbacks for 10 innings and the Los Angeles bats finally broke through on Paul Lo Duca's walk-off hit in the bottom of the 15th for 5-4 victory at Dodger Stadium.

The Diamondbacks appeared to seize control early with three first inning runs off Dodgers starter Odalis Perez.  Matt Kata led off the game with a base hit and, one out later, moved to second on Alex Cintron's single.  After Luis Gonzalez grounded out, with both runners advancing a base, Shea Hillenbrand drilled a home run into the left field pavilion for a 3-0 lead.

Arizona upped the advantage in the fourth.  Hillenbrand led off with a walk and Robby Hammock singled him to third.  Quinton McCracken then rolled into a fielder's choice with Hillenbrand scoring on the play, putting the Diamondbacks on top 4-0.

The Los Angeles comeback began in the bottom of the very same inning when Shawn Green and Lo Duca hit back-to-back doubles to put the Dodgers on the board.

The Diamondbacks still led 4-1 when the Dodgers came to bat in the bottom of the sixth.  Green belted a home run leading off the inning against Elmer Dessens and after Lo Duca grounded out, Mike Kinkade singled.  Adrian Beltre flied to center, but David Ross roped a double to center, scoring Kinkade and cutting the deficit to 4-3.  Eddie Oropesa replaced Dessens on the mound but Cesar Izturis greeted him with a single to right field, scoring Ross and tying the game.

The teams then matched zeroes until the fifteenth inning, with neither club really coming close to scoring.  Stephen Randolph, Oscar Villareal, Mike Myers, Brady Raggio and Matt Mantei combined to hold the Dodgers scoreless on just two hits for eight innings through the 14th.  Guillermo Mota, Tom Martin, Paul Quantrill, Wilson Alvarez and Eric Gagne shut the Diamondbacks out for ten innings, allowing five hits and one walk while striking out nine.  Alvarez alone tossed five frames of scoreless ball.  The Diamondbacks only managed to get one runner as far as second base against the Los Angeles bullpen; the Dodgers didn't get anyone past first against the Arizona relief corps until the 15th inning.

In that 15th frame, Mantei, the Diamondbacks closer, was working his third inning of relief.  He gave up a lead-off single to Wilkin Ruan, who promptly stole second base.  Alex Cora struck out and Green flied to right, with Ruan taking third.  That brought Lo Duca to the plate and he laced a single to right-center, scoring Ruan with the game-winning run.

7/5/2003, Ari03-LA03, Dodger Stadium
 
                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12
2003 Diamondbacks      3  0  0  1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0
2003 Dodgers           0  0  0  1  0  3  0  0  0  0  0  0
 
                      13 14 15     R  H  E   LOB DP
2003 Diamondbacks      0  0  0     4 11  3     9  1
2003 Dodgers           0  0  1     5 11  1     9  1
 
Diamondbacks         AB  R  H BI   AVG    Dodgers              AB  R  H BI   AVG
Kata              2b  7  1  3  0  .278    Ruan              cf  7  1  1  0  .133
Finley            cf  7  0  0  0  .236    Cora              2b  7  0  0  0  .224
Cintron           ss  7  1  2  0  .250    Green             rf  7  2  2  1  .276
Gonzalez,L        lf  6  0  0  0  .288    Lo Duca           1b  6  0  2  2  .275
Hillenbrand       1b  5  2  3  3  .318    Kinkade           lf  6  1  1  0  .236
Hammock           3b  4  0  1  0  .313    Beltre            3b  6  0  1  0  .243
 Villarreal       p   0  0  0  0  .333    Ross,D            c   4  1  3  1  .238
 Myers,M          p   0  0  0  0  .000     Hermansen        pr  1  0  0  0  .000
 Grace            ph  1  0  0  0  .208    Izturis           ss  6  0  1  1  .260
 Raggio           p   0  0  0  0  .000    Perez,Od          p   1  0  0  0  .120
 Overbay          ph  1  0  0  0  .233     Barnes           ph  1  0  0  0  .200
 Mantei           p   0  0  0  0  .000     Mota             p   1  0  0  0  .000
McCracken         rf  6  0  0  1  .175     Martin,T         p   0  0  0  0  .000
Moeller           c   6  0  1  0  .294     Quantrill        p   0  0  0  0  .000
Dessens           p   2  0  0  0  .195     Ward             ph  1  0  0  0  .160
 Oropesa          p   0  0  0  0 1.000     Alvarez,W        p   1  0  0  0  .000
 Dellucci         ph  1  0  0  0  .264     Cabrera,J        ph  1  0  0  0  .289
 Randolph         p   0  0  0  0  .000     Gagne            p   0  0  0  0  .000
 Baerga           1b  3  0  1  0  .344                         56  5 11  5
                     56  4 11  4
 
Diamondbacks                     INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Dessens                          5.2  6  4  4  0  4  89  58  3.39
Oropesa          BS 2            0.1  1  0  0  0  0   4   3  4.50
Randolph                         1.0  0  0  0  0  1  10   7  4.08
Villarreal                       2.0  1  0  0  0  1  18  13  3.15
Myers,M                          1.0  0  0  0  0  0  11   7  6.75
Raggio                           2.0  0  0  0  0  1  32  22  4.05
Mantei           L 2-1           2.2  3  1  1  1  3  50  29  1.52
                                14.2 11  5  5  1 10 214 139
 
Dodgers                          INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Perez,Od                         5.0  6  4  4  1  3  74  51  4.03
Mota                             2.0  1  0  0  0  1  19  14  1.38
Martin,T                         0.1  0  0  0  1  0  10   4  1.16
Quantrill                        1.2  0  0  0  0  1  14  10  0.84
Alvarez,W                        5.0  3  0  0  0  5  79  52  1.42
Gagne            W 3-0           1.0  1  0  0  0  2  16  10  0.50
                                15.0 11  4  4  2 12 212 141
 
Ari: Dellucci batted for Oropesa in the 7th
     Hillenbrand moved to 3b in the 8th
     Baerga inserted at 1b in the 8th
     Grace batted for Myers,M in the 11th
     Overbay batted for Raggio in the 13th
LA : Barnes batted for Perez,Od in the 5th
     Hermansen ran for Ross,D in the 9th
     Ward batted for Quantrill in the 9th
     Lo Duca moved to c in the 10th
     Kinkade moved to 1b in the 10th
     Hermansen moved to lf in the 10th
     Cabrera,J batted for Alvarez,W in the 14th
 
E-Finley, Hammock, Moeller, Beltre. 2B-Green(24), Lo Duca(14), Ross,D(2).
3B-Cintron(2). HR-Hillenbrand(11), Green(8). RBI-Hillenbrand 3(52),
McCracken(7), Green(32), Lo Duca 2(35), Ross,D(5), Izturis(26). SB-Ruan(1).
K-Kata, Finley 2, Cintron, Gonzalez,L, Hillenbrand, McCracken 3, Moeller,
Dessens, Baerga, Ruan 3, Cora, Green 2, Kinkade 2, Izturis, Perez,Od.
BB-Gonzalez,L, Hillenbrand, Lo Duca. SH-Hermansen.
GWRBI: Lo Duca
Temperature: 60, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 9 MPH.
Attendance: 56,146
Game Time: 4:42