Andre Ethier’s second homer gives Dodgers sweep of Angels, 5-3

It looked promising the first time Andre Ethier hit a home run, his solo shot putting the Dodgers up by a run in the eighth. Only, in the ninth, the Dodgers fumbled away the lead and the game went into extra innings.

Given another chance in the 10th inning, Ethier hit a two-run homer to leave the Dodgers with a 5-3 victory over the Angels at Dodger Stadium.

That wrapped what the Dodgers called a pretty good weekend. Three sellout crowds. Plenty of sunshine. And a three-game sweep of the Angels to gain a couple games on the Giants in the standings.

Ethier had been particularly quiet of late. He had not homered since June 29, but hit two Sunday. He now has 12 on the season. It was his 12th multi-home run game and sixth walk-off home run.

The victory was the fourth straight for the Dodgers and sixth consecutive win over their Southland rivals. With the Giants losing, the Dodgers’ lead in the National League West went back to 2½ games. And for the first time all season, they went 15 games over the .500 mark (60-45).

The Angels went with a bullpen start – they used seven different pitchers -- beginning with Cory Rasmus. That worked fine for two innings.

But with two outs in the third, Jimmy Rollins singled and Howie Kendrick drilled a two-run homer. It was Kendrick’s second home run of the series against his former teammates and ninth on the season.

Mat Latos was successful in keeping the Angels off-balance early, before faltering a tad in the sixth. Cole Calhoun led off with a double, advanced to third on Mike Trout’s groundout and scored when Albert Pujols bounced out to short.

Latos, making his first start for the Dodgers since his trade Thursday from Miami, left after six innings. On the hot afternoon, he allowed one run on four hits and a walk. He struck out one and threw 80 pitches.

Juan Nicasio maintained the 2-1 lead with a scoreless seventh, but the Dodgers ran into trouble with the debut of another pitcher acquired in that 13-player trade.

Jim Johnson, who came to the Dodgers from Atlanta, took over in the eighth to face the heart of the Angels order. And Calhoun quickly connected on a solo home run to tie it. It was Calhoun’s 14th home run of the season.

In the bottom of the inning the Angels’ fifth pitcher, Joe Smith, got the first two outs before Ethier hit a go-ahead home run to dead center field. It was the first home run Smith has allowed all season.

With Kenley Jansen having thrown 50 pitches in the last two days, the Dodgers called on J.P. Howell to close. But David Murphy opened the ninth with a base hit up the middle and the game would turn yet again.

Howell got Erick Aybar to hit a bouncer back to the box that probably should have been a double play, but his throw to second was low and the Dodgers had to settle for just the force. Howell struck out Conor Gillaspie for the second out, but Aybar alertly stole second on strike three.

Manager Don Mattingly decided to call on Pedro Baez for the final out, who was looking for his first career save. He’s still looking for it. Chris Iannetta lined his first pitch for a double to score Aybar with the tying run.

But in the bottom of the 10th innings, the Angels called on inexperienced right-hander reliever Drew Rucinski. With one out he walked Adrian Gonzalez, to bring up Ethier. And a second home run was soon landing in the Angels bullpen.

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