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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Last season, Randy Johnson went through a
bizarre stretch when he pitched very well and got scant offensive
support from his Arizona teammates.
|  | | Randy Johnson became the first 11-game winner in the majors this year. He lowered his ERA to 1.50. |
This year, the two-time Cy Young Award winner is pitching
extremely well, if not better than in 1999. And he's benefitting
from offensive backing -- including 11 hits by the Diamondbacks in
Wednesday's 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
"Last year, I didn't complain when I wasn't getting runs, and
now I'm just taking advantage of it and pitching accordingly,"
Johnson said after he became the major league's first 11-game
winner and struck out 11 in eight innings of work.
"The guys are going out there and scoring some runs, but I
still need to bear down right away and pitch well -- whether they're
getting a lot of runs or not. You still need to go out there and do
your job."
Last June 25-July 10, Johnson tied an improbable major league
mark by being on the losing side of four consecutive shutouts. During the span, St. Louis' Jose Jimenez threw a no-hitter at
the Diamondbacks and Johnson also went on to lose on a one-hitter,
two-hitter and three-hitter. The Big Unit did not allow more than two runs in any of those
starts, but still went 0-4.
This year, Arizona has backed Johnson (11-1) with five or more
runs in eight of his 13 starts. On their way to beating the Dodgers for the fifth time in six
meetings, the Diamondbacks jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second
inning and went up 5-1 in the fifth. Greg Colbrunn homered to lead off the third, and Matt Williams
added a two-run shot in the fifth.
Johnson allowed one run on five hits and walked two as he won
his second consecutive start since coming back from a sore left
shoulder that caused him to miss a turn. The left-hander threw 119 pitches to win his fourth in a row and
gave up fewer than three earned runs for the 13th time in his 14
starts this year. His fastballs were clocked as high as 98 mph.
"I've seen Randy more dominating; he was not as overpowering as
I've seen him, but we didn't get anything off him," Dodgers
manager Davey Johnson said. "Our left-hander (Carlos Perez) held
them down fairly well, but against Randy Johnson, if you give up
five runs you're usually going to be on the losing side."
The Dodgers' only run came on Paul LoDuca's RBI single in the
second inning, after Johnson hit Jose Vizcaino on the left hand to
load the bases. After LoDuca's run-scoring hit with no outs, Johnson got out of
the inning without further damage, striking out Carlos Perez and
Shawn Gilbert. He then retired Mark Grudzielanek on a soft fly to
right to end the threat.
Colbrunn's leadoff homer, his fifth, came off Perez (4-3) and
triggered a three-run second inning for the Diamondbacks. Danny Bautista then doubled with one out and scored on a single
by Damian Miller, who took second on the throw home. One out later,
Tony Womack's single up the middle gave Arizona a 3-0 lead. After Los Angeles cut the deficit to 3-1, Williams hit his
second homer of the year, a two-run shot to stake Johnson to a
four-run lead.
Perez gave up five runs on 11 hits in seven innings. He struck
out four and walked none. Johnson has struck out 10 or more in a game 136 times, behind
only Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, who did it in 215 games.
"It's a privilege we have him here, but it's also a problem
because the other team's always geared up for him," Colbrunn said
of Arizona's ace.
Game notes
If the Dodgers' Vizcaino wondered why the crowd suddenly
was cheering when he batted in the seventh, it wasn't for him.
Obviously listening to the Pacers-Lakers game, a large number in
the crowd of 27,332 erupted when Game 4 of the NBA Finals ended
with a Lakers victory. ... When Arizona's Luis Gonzalez appears on
"This Week In Baseball" Saturday, he will have three special
guests with him _ his triplets, who will turn 2 on June 26. ...
Eric Karros, who broke Ron Cey's record for most home runs by a Los
Angeles Dodgers player on Tuesday night, needs 13 more to tie
Brooklyn catcher Roy Campanella for third place on the career list.
After that comes Gil Hodges (361) and Duke Snider (389).
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Arizona Clubhouse
Los Angeles Clubhouse
Stottlemyre to come off DL, will face Dodgers tonight
RECAPS
NY Yankees 2
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Kansas City 5
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