Loney’s three-run double helps Dodgers rally late to beat D’Backs 6-5

Dodgers rally late to beat D’Backs 6-5

LOS ANGELES — James Loney hit a tying three-run double in the eighth inning and Casey Blake followed with an RBI single, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 6-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night.

Dan Haren pitched seven innings of two-hit ball for the Diamondbacks and went 3 for 3 at the plate, leaving with a 5-1 lead before the Diamondbacks’ bullpen crumbled.

Tony Pena, who nearly squandered a three-run lead in the ninth inning of Monday night’s 3-2 win, took over for Haren in the eighth with a 5-1 lead and walked Orlando Hudson on four pitches with the bases loaded.

Lefty Daniel Schlereth replaced Pena and Loney greeted him with a tying three-run double to right-center before Blake singled to give the Dodgers their first lead.

Jeff Weaver (3-1) pitched two scoreless innings of three-hit relief after replacing starter Randy Wolf. Jonathan Broxton pitched a perfect ninth for his 12th save in 14 attempts.

Justin Upton hit his first career grand slam for the Diamondbacks.

Haren struck out seven and walked one. The two-time All-Star right-hander, who came in leading the NL with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 7.89, had not issued a base on balls in 28 1-3 innings before walking Hudson leading off the seventh.

Andre Ethier drove a first-pitch homer about halfway up the right field pavilion with two out in the second inning, snapping a homerless drought of 24 games and 89 at-bats by the Dodgers’ right fielder. The only other hit Haren allowed was Ethier’s ground-rule double with one out in the fifth.

Wolf got his eighth no-decision in 12 starts this season, allowing five runs and seven hits in six innings. He had allowed no more than two earned runs in five of his previous six outings.

Brad Ausmus started behind the plate for the Dodgers, one night after Russell Martin had to contend with a franchise record-tying five wild pitches thrown by relievers Cory Wade and Brent Leach. Manager Joe Torre said Ausmus’ eighth start of the season already was determined on the team’s flight back from Chicago on Sunday night.

Martin caught Wolf in all of his 11 previous starts, and the switch stood out after the left-hander retired only five of his first 12 batters and gave up five runs.

Facing a starting lineup consisting entirely of right-handed bats — including switch-hitters Felipe Lopez and Augie Ojeda — Wolf found himself in a bases-loaded, no out situation after just nine pitches.

The Diamondbacks got only one run out of it, as Lopez scored on a groundout by Mark Reynolds. But in the second inning, Upton drove an 0-1 pitch into the left field pavilion with two out for his first career grand slam. Wolf retired 11 of his next 13 batters, two on double plays, before he was lifted for a pinch-hitter.

The grand slam was the fourth allowed by Wolf in his career and the first since April 23, 2002, when San Diego’s Deivi Cruz victimized him at Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium. On that occasion, Wolf retired his next 12 batters after Cruz’s homer and ended up with an 8-5 victory. The Phillies manager was Larry Bowa, now the Dodgers’ third base coach.

Los Angeles reached the midway point of Manny Ramirez’s 50 game suspension. He is eligible to return on July 3, when the Dodgers begin a three-game series in San Diego. They are 15-10 since he left the lineup, and have lost four of their last five.