truebluefan

There isn't much about Brad Penny, the All-Star right-hander and anchor of the Dodgers' rotation, that is typical of a major-league pitcher. Not his cowboy persona, which he comes by honestly through his Oklahoma roots. Not his investment in the horse-racing game, which includes at least partial ownership of four thoroughbreds. Not his penchant for dating B-list actresses. And certainly not his ability to swing a bat. Dodgers manager Grady Little was so confident in Penny's hitting prowess Wednesday night that in the third inning, with a man on first and one out in a scoreless game, he removed the bunt sign after Penny fouled off one pitch. The decision would prove monumental in what, for the surging Dodgers, became their fifth consecutive victory, 5-3 over the Cincinnati Reds in front of 22,110 at Great American Ball Park. “I put on the hit-and-run,” Little would say after the game, referring to a strategy most managers would never dream of employing with a pitcher at the plate. "But he didn't get the right pitch for it, and he hit that one foul, too. At that point, he had two strikes on him, so we just let him hit.” Penny took two balls, then drove the fifth pitch from Reds starter Elizardo Ramirez on an arcing line to left-center field, where it fell between Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr. and rolled to the wall. James Loney, who had drawn a one-out walk from Ramirez, scored easily. Instead of bunting Loney into scoring position with two outs, Penny's double put himself in scoring position with one out, gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead and turned over the lineup, bringing the top of the order to the plate behind him. Rafael Furcal and Kenny Lofton followed with, respectively, a single and a triple, making it 3-0. After Julio Lugo walked, J.D. Drew became the sixth consecutive Dodgers hitter to reach base, driving a single through the right side to score Lofton for a 4-0 cushion. From there, Penny more or less cruised through six quality innings, snapping what had been a personal three-start losing streak since his mitt-popping, radar-exploding, two-inning stint in last month's All-Star Game. His performance left him with an 11-5 record, a 3.50 ERA and a .222 batting average, easily the best on the club among pitchers.

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