LOS ANGELES -- The carousel in the Los Angeles Dodgers crowded outfield keeps spinning, and centre fielder Andre Ethier wont be getting off anytime soon with the way he is swinging the bat and playing defence -- especially after left fielder Carl Crawford sprained his ankle. Ethier drove in the Dodgers first four runs with a homer and a bases-loaded triple, and Zack Greinke tied a season high with 11 strikeouts in a 6-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night. But the jubilation in the clubhouse was subdued after Crawford left the game in the eighth inning with a sprained left ankle. He injured himself chasing down pinch-hitter Chris Heiseys leadoff double into the left field corner. Crawford said that he will have to go on the disabled list, although the club made no such announcement. Ethiers season-high four RBIs increased his total to 25, despite the outfield situation that had forced manager Don Mattingly to mix and match with Matt Kemp, Crawford, Scott Van Slyke and right fielder Yasiel Puig -- the only constant in the bunch. Puig, who came in second in the NL with a .345 average and 38 RBIs, reached base safely for the 28th straight game. "Its uncomfortable, and its a tough spot to be in," Ethier said. "I guess this is a situation where too much of a good thing is not necessarily good. But youve got to commend everyone for being professional and handling it as well as they can." Kemp was not in the starting lineup for the fifth straight game -- his longest such stretch without an injury since he became a regular in 2008. Mattingly and his staff are waiting for the two-time Gold Glove centre fielder to become comfortable enough in left field to play there on a regular basis alongside Ethier. Kemp pinch-hit in the eighth and struck out. "I just keep telling Matt: Lets go. Keep it going. Youre going to be needed, so just be ready for your opportunity," said Ethier, Kemps teammate since 2006. Greinke (8-1) allowed three runs, eight hits and no walks in 7 2-3 innings. The 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner was lifted after giving up a two-run homer by Devin Mesoraco on his 104th pitch -- ending Greinkes streak of 22 consecutive starts in which he had allowed fewer than three earned runs. It was the longest such streak since the dead-ball era. Kenley Jansen followed J.P. Howell out of the bullpen and pitched a perfect ninth for his 16th save. Alfredo Simon (6-3) threw 70 pitches in 3 2-3 innings, giving up five runs, five hits and four walks after going 5-0 with a 1.05 ERA in his first five road starts. The right-hander was the first Reds pitcher in the modern era (since 1900) to win his first five road starts of a season while allowing no more than five hits in any of them. Simon retired his first two batters in the second before Ethier drove the next pitch to right-centre for his third home run of the season. It ended a drought of 83 at-bats since his previous long ball, a three-run shot against Arizonas Mike Bolsinger on April 19 at Dodger Stadium. Ethier came up in the fourth with three men on after a one-out intentional walk to Adrian Gonzalez, and lined a 2-1 pitch into the right field corner for his first triple of the year. Chone Figgins, starting at third base for the injured Juan Uribe, capped the rally with an RBI single to make it 5-0. "Alfredos strength really so far, beyond having very good stuff, has been to execute quality pitches. And that got away from him a little bit in the fourth," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "With Greinke pitching, we were in a position where we couldnt give up a bulk of runs. But they had a big inning. And when Greinkes on, thats a knockout blow." Roger Bernadina drove in Cincinnatis first run with a fifth-inning single. For the first time in three games, a Dodgers starter gave up a hit before the eighth inning. Todd Frazier -- whose leadoff double in the eighth on Monday night broke up Hyun-Jin Ryus bid for a perfect game following Josh Becketts no-hitter on Sunday at Philadelphia -- singled with one out in the second. Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez was 1 for 4 with an RBI single in the cleanup spot, after missing four games because of a sore left calf. NOTES: Reds 2B Brandon Phillips, 3 for 16 lifetime against Greinke, got the night off. But he did bring Prices lineup card to home plate for the exchange with the umpires. Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping .com) - They didnt meet in the regular season, so Sam Houston State might be saying it won the de facto title game between the two Southland Conference co-champions Saturday. Nike NFL Jerseys China . 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Wholesale NFL Jerseys China .com) - Blake Griffin led five Clippers in double figures with 24 points and the LA Clippers got back on track with a 101-97 win over the Utah Jazz.CHICAGO -- Jason Hammel is certain the Cubs are better than their record so far. Hammel pitched seven strong innings, Mike Olt hit a three-run home run and Nate Schierholtz drove in a pair of early runs to lead the Cubs to a 9-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. "With a doubt," he said. "Weve played a lot of close ballgames where we could have come out on the other end. Were a young team and well figure out how to win those ball games pretty soon." Hammel (3-1) allowed just one run and four hits without walking a batter in seven innings to lower his ERA to 2.60. "Very nice job," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said. "He got some groundball double plays when he needed to. Made some pitches when he needed to. It was pretty efficient." Olt still is hitting below .200 for the season (.195), but has four homers and nine runs batted in despite not playing every day. The Cubs, whove won three of four to improve to 7-12, have won back-to-back games for the first time this season. They last won consecutive games on Sept. 9 and 10 of last season against the Cincinnati Reds. Their last consecutive home wins came on Sept. 4 and 6 against Miami and Milwaukee. Brandon McCarthy (0-4) lowered his ERA from 7.11 to 6.23 because only one of five runs allowed was earned. He yielded seven hits in five innings. Arizona has dropped four straight and has the worst record in the majors at 5-18. "It was a carbon copy of the game (Monday)," Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. "We made an error there, gave them life and then Brandon got behind in the count 3-1 and Olt hit a ball down over the plate, a pretty big pop into that wind. "We didnt mount any pressure again offensively so I dont know what to tell ya," he said. In the third inning, Luis Valbuena stroked a one-outt double to left-centre field and then scored two batters later on a two-out single by Schierholtz.dddddddddddd In the fifth, Schierholtz drove in Valbuena again, this time on a sacrifice fly to right field, for a 2-0 lead. Valbuena led off the inning with a single, went to second on a groundout and then reached third as Arizona second baseman Martin Prado dropped Anthony Rizzos grounder for an error. The Cubs took advantage. Given the extra out, Starlin Castro singled to put two runners on and Olt followed with a homer into the right field bleachers for a 5-0 lead. "I think it probably helped me," Olt said of the wind. "I wasnt trying to hit a home run. I was just trying to put the ball in play and hit it hard." Arizona finally got on the board against Hammel in the sixth when Tuffy Gosewisch led off with a homer. The Cubs then broke things open with four runs in the bottom of the eighth, while the Diamondbacks got one back in the ninth. NOTES: Wednesday is the 100th anniversary of the first game at Wrigley Field, which then was known as Weeghman Park, between the Chicago Federals and Kansas City Packers of the Federal League. The Cubs will wear replica Federal uniforms for the game, while Arizona will wear Packers uniforms. . Diamondbacks OF Mark Trumbo didnt start because of soreness in his left foot. The injury occurred late in Mondays game. . Now that RHP Jose Veres no longer is closing games, Renteria will hunt for opportunities to get Veres on the mound so he can work out his problems. "It could be at any moment," Renteria said. "We could be up by 10 (or) down by 10. He needs to pitch. Hes talked about he wants to get back on the mound and throw." . LHP Wade Miley (2-2) is scheduled to face Chicago RHP Jeff Samardzija (0-2) on Wednesday. ' ' '
