Andre Ethier hits 3 homers to lead Dodgers over Mariners 8-2

Ethier’s 3 HRs lead Dodgers over Mariners 8-2

LOS ANGELES — Once again, Andre Ethier’s talent impressed Don Wakamatsu.

Ethier was about 12 years old when he attended a winter baseball camp in Phoenix that was run by Wakamatsu, now the manager of the Seattle Mariners.

Fifteen years later, Ethier put on a power display for him, hitting three home runs and driving in a career-high six runs for the Los Angeles Dodgers in an 8-2 victory over the Mariners on Friday night.

“I saw him as a young player at (Arizona State) and saw his talent there,” Wakamatsu said. “He hit three different pitches off three different pitchers, and that was awfully impressive.”

Ethier gave the Dodgers a 3-0 lead in the second, driving a 1-1 pitch from Jason Vargas (3-3) to center field after Casey Blake led off with a double and James Loney singled.

He made it 7-2 in the sixth with a drive into the right-field pavilion off Roy Corcoran after Russell Martin was hit by a pitch. The Dodgers’ right fielder capped his first three-homer game with a leadoff shot in the eighth off Miguel Batista.

“It was a lot of fun. It’s something I never dreamed of before,” Ethier said. “It’s one of those unlikely things that’s a nice individual accomplishment, and if it helps the team and makes the outcome better for us, so be it. But I don’t expect home runs now just because of this.”

Ethier has hit 13 of his 14 homers this season at Dodger Stadium.

It was Ethier’s fifth career multihomer game.

Ethier became the 15th player to hit three or more home runs for the Dodgers and the first since Hee-Seop Choi on June 12, 2005, against Minnesota at Dodger Stadium.

Clayton Kershaw (5-5) allowed two runs and five hits over six innings and struck out eight, helping the defending NL West champions improve baseball’s best record to 48-26. The 21-year-old left-hander hasn’t given up more than five hits in any of his last 11 starts, but is only 5-3 during that stretch despite a 2.48 ERA in those eight outings.

Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki had his sixth straight multihit game giving him a major league-leading 34 this season. The two-time AL batting champ played his first game at Dodger Stadium since March 23, when his two-run single in the 10th inning helped Japan capture its second straight World Baseball Classic championship.

In Toronto, Ricky Romero held Philadelphia hitless for six innings and Aaron Hill hit a two-run double for Toronto.

The rookie left-hander gave up a hit to Chase Utley leading off the seventh and Jayson Werth followed with an infield single for the Phillies, losers of 11 of 13. Romero got Ryan Howard to hit into a double play and John Mayberry to fly out to center to finish the inning.

Romero (5-3) allowed two hits, walked one and struck out seven.

Toronto won for the fourth time in five games and has beaten the Phillies in six straight.

The Blue Jays scored three runs in the third against left-hander Cole Hamels (4-4), who is winless in four starts.

In Oakland, Calif., Garrett Atkins had three hits and two RBIs and Colorado’s Jason Hammel remained unbeaten in June.

Todd Helton added a two-run single as part of a three-run fifth inning, helping the Rockies snap a seven-game losing streak in Oakland.

Hammel (5-3) allowed four hits, struck out five and walked two to finish 4-0 this month. He extended his career-best winning streak to five.

Huston Street, pitching against his former team for the first time since being acquired in November as part of a trade that sent slugger Matt Holliday to the A’s, worked a perfect ninth for his 17th save in 18 tries.

In Phoenix, Torii Hunter hit a two-run homer to cap Los Angeles’ eight-run second inning.

Jered Weaver won his first career appearance against Arizona, Maicer Izturis doubled and tripled to drive in two runs, and Bobby Abreu had two hits and two RBIs to help the Angels to a season high for runs.

The Angels have won three straight and 10 of 13.

Weaver (8-3) gave up three runs and four hits in six innings for the fifth victory in his last six starts.

In Atlanta, Josh Beckett threw seven more scoreless innings against Atlanta and David Ortiz homered for Boston.

Beckett (9-3) has faced the Braves twice in the past seven days — and still hasn’t given up a run. He threw a five-hit, no-walk shutout at Fenway Park last weekend. This time, he allowed six hits, struck out six and didn’t walk anyone.

Ortiz is hitting .333 over his past 17 games, with seven homers and 14 RBIs, though he’s still batting just .218 overall.

The Braves lost their third straight and 11th in the last 16. Braves starter Jair Jurrjens (5-6) allowed three earned runs in eight innings.

In Cleveland, Jeremy Sowers pitched into the eighth inning for his first win as a starter this season and Ryan Garko hit a two-run homer to lead Cleveland to its second win in 10 games.

Sowers (2-5), who began the season in Triple-A, allowed two runs and six hits.

Garko homered in the fourth off Aaron Harang (5-8) and Victor Martinez added a solo shot in the fifth as the Indians built a 9-0 lead.

In Pittsburgh, Virgil Vasquez went six innings for his first major league win and Pittsburgh got home runs from three unlikely power sources.

Vasquez (1-0), recalled by the Pirates after Thursday’s game to make his first start since Aug. 31, 2007, allowed two runs and four hits while striking out seven.

Nyjer Morgan, Jason Jaramillo and Jack Wilson homered for Pittsburgh, which has won three straight since snapping a five-game losing streak.

Gil Meche (4-7) allowed four runs in five innings.

In Houston, Miguel Tejada had a double and drove in two runs and Houston snapped Detroit’s seven-game winning streak.

Tejada doubled in the third inning for the Astros’ first run and drove in the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the eighth that followed Jeff Keppinger’s bases-loaded walk that made it 4-4.

Chris Sampson (4-0) got the last out of the eighth and LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless ninth for his 10th save.

In Baltimore, rookie Brad Bergesen allowed four hits in six innings to win his fourth straight decision and Melvin Mora had four RBIs for Baltimore.

Aubrey Huff drove in three runs, and Nick Markakis, Adam Jones and Nolan Reimold all had three hits for the Orioles, who used an eight-run sixth inning to turn the game into a rout.

A crowd of 45,024 — the biggest at Camden Yards since opening day — showed up for this interleague matchup between last-place clubs.

Bergesen (5-2) gave up one run, struck out five and walked two.

In Chicago, Geovany Soto hit a three-run homer to back another solid start by Randy Wells and the Cubs broke a four-game losing streak.

Milton Bradley of the Cubs went after the Gatorade cooler in the dugout after he flied out in the top of the sixth, had an angry exchange with manager Lou Piniella in the tunnel and was told to go home. Ryan Freel replaced him in right field in the bottom half.

Wells (2-3) won his second straight start, allowing two runs and five hits in seven innings.

In St. Petersburg, Fla., B.J. Upton’s three-run double snapped an eighth-inning tie for Tampa Bay.

Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford also drove in runs as the AL champions ended Florida’s five-game winning streak. J.P. Howell (3-2), the fifth Tampa Bay pitcher, worked 1 1-3 innings for the victory.

Hanley Ramirez homered for the third time in four games for the Marlins, hitting a solo shot that made it 3-all in the seventh.

In Arlington, Texas, David Murphy and Hank Blalock homered for Texas and Kevin Millwood won his fifth straight decision at home.

Murphy’s three-run homer put Texas up 6-1 against Walter Silva (0-1), who gave up nine runs in 2 1-3 innings. It was Murphy’s third homer in eight games.

Millwood (8-5) allowed two runs over six innings.

In St. Louis, Glen Perkins worked seven dominant innings and Minnesota got key hits from Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer.

Joe Mauer was 1 for 2 with two walks and is batting .396 for the Twins, who are 38-37 overall but 11-5 in interleague play. Kubel and Cuddyer each had two hits and an RBI, and Perkins (3-4), whose previous three career at-bats were strikeouts, contributed two sacrifices.

Adam Wainwright (8-5) lasted seven innings, allowing three runs, one unearned.

In New York, three errors by Mets infielders led to a four-run second inning, and Alex Rodriguez of the visiting Yankees added his 564th home run to pass Reggie Jackson on the career list.

Fill-in leadoff batter Brett Gardner had a career-high five hits, including his third home run of the season and a triple. Rodriguez made it 7-1 with a two-run shot in the eighth, 11th homer this season.

Third baseman David Wright, shortstop Alex Cora and first baseman Nick Evans contributed to the Mets’ first three-error inning in five years.

CC Sabathia (7-4), who left Sunday’s start at Florida after 1 1-3 innings because of tightness in his left biceps, allowed three hits in seven innings, struck out eight and walked one.

In Milwaukee, Yovani Gallardo outdueled Matt Cain and Ryan Braun drove in two runs for Milwaukee.

Slumping shortstop J.J. Hardy homered for the Brewers, who had lost five of their previous six games. It was only the second loss in seven games for the Giants.

Gallardo (8-4) gave up a first-inning home run to Pablo Sandoval before settling down to retire 16 batters in a row between the second and seventh innings.

Cain (9-2) tied his season high by allowing five runs and matched his season high with nine strikeouts.