Dodgers must wait to clinch NL West

[rwilli1]

Dodgers must wait to clinch NL West



Mon Sep 28, 7:28 PM

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Dodgers were denied a division-clinching celebration again by the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates, who routed the NL West leaders 11-1 on Monday.


Pittsburgh, who won three of four games against the visiting Dodgers, took advantage of a second-inning error by second baseman Mark Loretta to score five unearned runs off Los Angeles Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda to launch the rout.

Former Dodger Andy LaRoche stroked a career-high five hits including two homers and drove in six runs for the Pirates, last in the NL Central with a 59-96 mark.

"I'm disappointed," said Dodgers manager Joe Torre.

"It's always dangerous when you play these teams. Their record tells you should beat them. But these types of teams, you're not comfortable."

Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen said his team mates had been motivated by forcing the Dodgers to clinch their divisional title elsewhere.

"Y'all can clinch somewhere else. We don't want you clinching here," McCutchen said. "It was just more about us battling."

Kuroda, who had gone 2-0 with a 1.89 ERA against Pittsburgh, gave up eight hits in four innings and dropped to 8-7 for the season.

Left-hander Zach Duke (11-15) yielded just four hits to a makeshift Los Angeles lineup that was missing the injured Manny Ramirez, Casey Blake and Ronnie Belliard, while regulars Rafael Furcal and Russell Martin were given the day off.

Los Angeles, whose 93-64 record is the best in the National League, will try to clinch the NL West crown closer to home on Tuesday when they visit the San Diego Padres.

Chad Billingsley (12-10) is scheduled to start for the Dodgers against Padres rookie Cesar Ramos (0-1), who will be making his first major league start.

(Writing by Larry Fine; Editing by Sonia Oxley and Greg Stutchbury)