Casey Blake hits 2-run homer, Dodgers beat Brewers 7-1 for 3-game sweep

MILWAUKEE – Casey Blake hit a two-run homer and six Dodgers pitchers combined on a two-hitter as Los Angeles beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-1 Thursday for a three-game sweep.

The Dodgers came into Milwaukee with a 3-14 mark on the road in the second half but rekindled their playoff hopes with their first three-game sweep at Miller Park since May 23-25, 2003.

The Brewers lost their fourth straight.

Leading 4-1, the Dodgers broke the game open in the seventh with three runs off starter Yovani Gallardo (11-6) and reliever Todd Coffey.

Gallardo walked reliever Kenley Jensen with one out and Scott Podsednik singled for the third time. Ryan Theriot looped the first pitch from Coffey into center for an RBI single that scored Jensen.

An error by catcher Jonathan Lucroy on center fielder Chris Dickerson's throw to the plate allowed Podsednik and Theriot to advance. Podsednik scored on Reed Johnson's single, and Theriot came home on Coffey's wild pitch.

Blake's 13th homer, a two-run shot off Gallardo in the sixth, pushed the lead to 4-1. Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier was ejected during the inning for arguing with plate umpire Adrian Anderson.

Los Angeles starter Carlos Monasterios, who allowed one run and two hits in 4 1-3 innings, tired in the fifth. But the bullpen came on to protect a 2-1 lead.

With one out, Monasterios walked Gallardo, hit Rickie Weeks with a pitch for the second time in the game and then plunked the next batter, Corey Hart, to load the bases. That ended the rookie right-hander's 10th start of the season. Ronald Belisario (2-1) relieved and got Ryan Braun to strike out swinging.

Dodgers manager Joe Torre brought in left-hander George Sherrill to face left-handed hitting Prince Fielder, who hit into a fielder's choice to end the Brewers' threat.

After Fielder's 26th home run, a solo shot in the fourth, tied the game, Podsednik lined a shot off the glove of a diving Weeks at second base in the fifth. The ball trickled into short right field, allowing Brad Ausmus to score.

Ausmus also had three hits.

Podsednik singled, went to third on Theriot's double and scored on Matt Kemp's groundout in the first.