LOS ANGELES (AP) - Dan Haren, the veteran that he is, has made a living pitching deep into games after giving up a few early runs. And, for a change, he was able to do it against the Miami Marlins thanks to a clutch home run by Yasiel Puig.
Puig extended his career-best hitting streak to 12 games with his third home run in four days, a three-run shot that led the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Marlins 6-5 Monday night.
Haren (5-1) overcame a shaky start, allowing three runs and seven hits over seven innings without walking a batter.
Haren had lost his previous four decisions against the Marlins and is 2-6 against them, with the only other victory coming on a four-hit shutout in July 2009 with the Arizona Diamondbacks at Phoenix.
“He’s done that all year,” Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier said. “I’ve seen him do that for us, and I’ve seen him to that over the years when we were playing against him. He might give up a few runs, but then he just figures out a way to make quality pitches and get guys out and last seven or eight innings.”
Christian Yelich drove Haren’s 3-2 pitch to left-center in the third for his fourth homer, giving the Marlins the lead. It was the first of four consecutive hits against Haren, including an RBI single by Giancarlo Stanton that extended his career-best hitting streak to 14 games. But Jarrod Saltalamacchia grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Haren allowed only one more hit after that - a leadoff double in the sixth by Stanton.
“Dan is very intelligent, and he makes adjustments all the time,” pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said. “Without a doubt, he’s just a huge competitor and continues to execute what he wants to execute. He reads things and knows what he can do. And most of the time, it’s worked out pretty good.”
Brian Wilson inherited a 6-3 lead from Haren and promptly gave up a leadoff walk to Yelich and a home run by pinch-hitter and former Dodger Reed Johnson on the next pitch.
But Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect ninth for his 12th save, one day after he was charged with three runs in the 10th inning of a 7-4 loss to San Francisco.
“It just didn’t work yesterday, but tonight he came out and threw the ball extremely well,” Honeycutt said. “Sometimes in this game, you’ve just got to have those moments to kind of get you going again. As soon as I got here today Kenley told me: ’I’m available, right?’”
Yelich helped stake Tom Koehler (3-3) to a 3-1 lead with a solo homer in the third, but the Marlins right-hander never made it through the fourth. He walked No. 8 hitter Drew Butera, then Dee Gordon with two outs, and Puig drove the next pitch into the pavilion seats in left-center for his sixth home run to give Los Angeles a 4-3 lead.
“He’s really aggressive and good at getting that first pitch when it’s out over the plate. And if he doesn’t, he’s good at working the count and figuring out a way to get a hit,” Ethier said.
Koehler gave up four runs, six hits and five walks in 3 2-3 innings. In his previous two starts, he allowed no runs and five hits over 15 innings, beating the Dodgers 6-3 at Miami and following up with a no-decision against the New York Mets.
“It’s very disappointing. I really struggled with my command and my breaking pitches,” Koehler said. “I threw some good fastballs - but when you’re not throwing any breaking pitches for strikes, they’re able to eliminate it and sit on the fastball. And when you hang a breaking ball to a guy who swings first pitch, and he crushes it, it’s a crushing blow.”
Los Angeles added two more runs in the fifth, including Ethier’s RBI single after Matt Kemp was grazed on the helmet by Henry Rodriguez’s pitch and stole second on the right-hander’s next delivery to Ethier. Rodriguez also forced in a run with a bases-loaded walk to Puig.
Kemp, playing in his 1,000th regular-season game, singled leading off the second inning and stole second before Haren drove him in from third with a single that tied it 1.
NOTES: Eighteen years ago this month, Marlins third base coach Brett Butler learned that he had tonsil cancer while playing for the Dodgers. This was his first visit to Chavez Ravine in a major league uniform since 2005, when he was the Diamondbacks’ first base coach. … Dodgers 3B Juan Uribe, who missed the previous three games because of a sore right hamstring, took batting practice with his teammates and was declared “available in different roles” by manager Don Mattingly. But he remained on the bench. … Twelve of Puig’s 26 big league homers have come on the first pitch. … Stanton’s two RBIs increased his major league-leading total to 42. … Kemp had a career-high 40 stolen bases in 2011 before injuries to his left hamstring and left ankle limited him to a combined 179 games in 2012 and 2013. This was only the second time he has two steals in a game since Aug. 11, 2012, at Miami.
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