LOS ANGELES -- Brandon Phillips gets as much of a charge out of making a defensive gem to save a run as he does hitting a home run.
Tom Kelly Twins Jersey . Wednesday night, he was able to do both in the same inning to help the Cincinnati Reds pin a frustrating loss on two-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw. Phillips and Homer Baileys seven effective innings led the Reds to a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night. "Regardless of who was pitching, it feels good just to come through for the team and do something positive to get us going in the right direction," Phillips said. "We havent been really scoring that many runs and havent been getting many clutch hits. Kershaws one of the best pitchers in the game, but tonight we just hit some mistakes." Phillips, a four-time Gold Glove second baseman, robbed Andre Ethier of an RBI single when he made a diving stop of his grounder in the hole and threw him out after a leadoff double by Dee Gordon. Bailey escaped the inning unscathed by striking out Yasiel Puig and Hanley Ramirez. "I feel like defence wins championships and offence sells tickets," Phillips said. "That defensive play I made really saved the game. Im surprised I got to that ball. I didnt really see it come off the bat really good." Bailey (5-3) allowed two runs and five hits while striking out six. The right-hander has won consecutive starts for the first time this season following his 5-3 victory over St. Louis last Friday. "It was good for me, especially with the April I had," Bailey said. "Obviously its not how I wanted to start the season. It took a little while to get my legs underneath me. I would have liked to put up a few more zeros, but doing it against Clayton -- and the fact that we scored three runs -- you just make sure you lock them down. It was a really big win. We needed that one. You dont ever want to get swept. I dont care where youre at or who youre playing." Ethier, who drove in a season-high four runs Tuesday night, was 0 for 3 against Bailey and is hitless in 21 career at-bats against him with seven strikeouts. "He was just moving the ball so well," Ethier said. "Hes one of those guys who can be wildly effective at times, and other times he can spot up a pitch and throw something in there at 93-94 -- then reach back for 96-97 -- and its moving all over the place. He can throw his other pitches for strikes, too, so its a tough combination. In the past, Ive seen a lot of cutters from him, and tonight I didnt see one. It was all two-seam fastballs and one breaking ball." Puig, who has reached base safely in 29 straight games, led off the Dodgers sixth with an opposite-field homer to right-centre that narrowed the gap to 3-2. But former Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton retired Puig and Ramirez on flyballs for the last two outs in the eighth after replacing Manny Parra with a runner at second, and Aroldis Chapman pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save. Kershaw (3-2) allowed three runs and seven hits in seven innings and struck out nine. He retired 14 of his next 16 batters after Phillips homer. The left-hander, who led the majors in ERA in each of the previous three seasons, has a 3.57 mark through his first six starts this year. He missed all of April because of a strained muscle in his back, after beating Arizona March 22 during the Dodgers season-opening two-game trip to Australia. Matt Kemp, who hadnt started a game in left field since his rookie year, was back there Wednesday on the eighth anniversary of his major league debut. It was his eighth career start in left, and first since June 21, 2006. Todd Frazier doubled over Matt Kemps head leading off the sixth and scored on a wild pitch to give Cincinnati a 3-1 lead. Only one of the last 34 home runs Kershaw has given up has been with more than one man on base. That was a three-run shot by former Seattle catcher Miguel Olivo, who eventually joined the Dodgers in January as a free agent -- and was released last week after biting off a piece of Triple-A Albuquerque teammate Alex Guerreros left ear during a dugout brawl. NOTES: Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully was back in the Dodgers TV booth after missing two games because of a chest cold. ... Canadian-born OF Jamie Romak, promoted from Triple-A Albuquerque because of Crawfords injury, pinch-hit for Kershaw in the seventh and grounded out to second on the first pitch he saw in the major leagues. ... Dodgers RHP Brandon League retired both batters he faced. He hasnt allowed an earned run in a career-best 22 innings spanning his last 16 appearances.
Sean Poppen Jersey . Gorges is believed to have suffered the injury while blocking a shot with a hand during Montreals win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. The Canadiens added to their defensive depth this week by acquiring veteran Mike Weaver from the Florida Panthers.
Jonathan Schoop Twins Jersey .com) - Rick Nash scored twice and Derek Stepan chipped in a goal with one assist as the New York Rangers claimed a 5-2 decision over Calgary at the Saddledome. MINNEAPOLIS -- D.J. Augustins career was swirling down the drain when the Toronto Raptors waived him in December, and the former No. 9 overall pick seemed destined to join the long list of promising prospects that just never made it in the NBA. Four days later, the Chicago Bulls signed him in an attempt to add some scoring punch to a defence-first team. Augustin has flourished in Chicago, one of the big reasons the surprising Bulls have been able to weather Derrick Roses injury and the trade of Luol Deng to stay in the hunt in the Eastern Conference. "We needed him," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said, "and he needed us." Augustin had another big game Wednesday night, scoring 21 points to lead Chicago to a 102-87 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Joakim Noah added 15 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for his fourth triple-double, moving into a tie with Indianas Lance Stephenson for the most in the NBA this season. Kirk Hinrich scored 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting and the Bulls hit 11 of 21 3-pointers to stay right on Torontos heels for the third seed in the Eastern Conference. "We wouldnt be in this position without D.J.," Noah said. "His passing ability, his scoring ability, just the way he plays the game. ... I feel like I have really good chemistry with him and I think the rest of this team feels that way, too. Were going to need him down the stretch." Kevin Love had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Timberwolves. But he hyperextended his right elbow in the first half and only made 7 of 20 shots, including 2 of 8 3-pointers. Ricky Rubio added 15 points and six assists, but the Wolves were just 4 for 17 from long distance. "I shouldve made a lot of those open shots that I missed," said Love, who also had a large bloody scratch on his chest after getting tied up with Carlos Boozer. "Yeah it was bothering me a little bit. But thats no excuse for the poor shooting." The Bulls entered the night with the same record as Toronto, with the tiebreaker going to the Raptors and only five games to play before the playoffs begin. The schedule certainly favours the Raptors, who beat the 76ers on Wednesday night and finish the season with two games against the Knickss and one each against the Pistons and Bucks.
Jack Morris Twins Jersey. Thanks to the raggedy East, the Bulls dont have it much tougher with the Pistons, Knicks and Magic coming up before the season finale at playoff-bound Charlotte. That made this game against short-handed Timberwolves a crucial one. The Timberwolves played without Nikola Pekovic (right foot), Chase Budinger (right ankle), Kevin Martin (right heel), Shabazz Muhammad (right knee) and J.J. Barea (back and neck), leaving them with only 10 healthy players, and without three of their better offensive players to go at the tenacious Bulls defence. But even though the Wolves have been eliminated from playoff contention, theyve put up quite a fight against some of the best teams in the league down the stretch. Last week Minnesota beat Memphis at home and won at Miami. The Wolves then throttled the Spurs at Target Center on Tuesday night and shot 52.6 per cent to take a 53-48 lead over the Bulls at halftime. Eventually that Bulls defence started squeezing the Wolves and grinding the game down. The Wolves missed eight of their first 10 shots of the second half and scored only 17 points in the third quarter. They shot 33 per cent and managed just 34 points in the second half. "It looked like we ran out of gas in the second half," Wolves coach Rick Adelman said. On the other end, the 3s kept falling. Mike Dunleavy, who had 15 points, hit one to give the Bulls a 65-62 lead they would never relinquish. Augustin hit two more in the fourth to help the Bulls pull away. Even bigger were his 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the first half, when the Bulls were struggling to get their offence going. "Im just getting a chance to play, period," Augustin said. "Just getting an opportunity and trying to make the best of it." NOTES: Bulls F Taj Gibson finished with 13 points and five rebounds. He picked up a technical foul in the fourth quarter for gesturing angrily after not getting a foul call under the basket. ... Little-used PG Alexey Shved had nine points and a season-high five assists in 16 minutes for Minnesota. ... The Wolves host their former coach and GM Kevin McHale and the Houston Rockets on Friday night in their third home game of the week. ' ' '