One one-hitter later, and Dodgers are No. 1 in West

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By Jon Weisman

It was the play of the game, early in the game. With David Murphy (who had walked) on second and two out, Miguel Rojas dove to his left to flag a sharp shot up the middle by Michael Bourn off Dan Haren that had RBI stamped and scribbled all over it.

Rojas jumped to his feet and threw to first, and Bourn was called out.

The bad news for the Dodgers: Upon further review, the call was reversed.

The good news for the Dodgers: Cleveland had no more baserunners the rest of the game.

Yes, there but for the grace of replay went the Dodgers’ third no-hitter in six weeks. Really.

But there, thanks to the grace of Clint Robinson, the Dodgers moved into first place in the National League West for the first time since April 24.

Coming to the plate in a scoreless game in the bottom of the seventh inning, after Andre Ethier had tripled with none out and pinch-hitter Hanley Ramirez had been intentionally walked with two out, Robinson grounded a 3-2 pitch almost to the same spot that Bourn hit his ball, but this – Robinson’s first Major League hit – had enough moxie to get through for the RBI that gave the Dodgers a 1-0 victory over Cleveland.

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Robinson was batting for Haren, who faced 23 batters and retired all but the aforementioned two, striking out five. Brian Wilson and Kenley Jansen were perfect in closing out the game.

Dodger pitchers have …

• a 0.33 ERA in their past three games with 32 strikeouts in 27 innings.
• a 1.14 ERA in their past seven games with 67 strikeouts in 63 innings.
• a 1.81 ERA in their past 14 games with 124 strikeouts in 124 2/3 innings.

And the Dodgers have won 16 of their past 22 games, gaining 10 games on San Francisco in 22 days.