The Los Angeles Dodgers will take their show to the road when they open a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies Friday at Citizens Bank Park.
Los Angeles will also visit the Miami Marlins on its east coast journey and is riding an eight-game winning streak. The NL West-leading Dodgers are a sizzling 40-8 since late June, the best mark over that stretch since the 1942 Cardinals went 41-7 from Aug. 11-Oct. 1.
The Dodgers completed a three-game sweep of the New York Mets with Wednesday's 5-4 win in 12 innings, as Adrian Gonzalez drove in Yasiel Puig with the game- winning run. Puig hustled for a double to get the rally started for Los Angeles, which is 12-0-4 in the last 16 series.
Andre Ethier belted a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings.
"It was a fastball away and I got it all," Ethier said of his homer. "It's nice to be part of something we've got going here."
Paco Rodriguez pitched 1 1/3 innings of relief to earn the victory for the Dodgers, while starter Chris Capuano allowed four runs and 10 hits in five innings.
L.A. is 23-3 since the All-Star break, 20 games above .500 and has won 12 straight one-run games.
Taking the mound for the Dodgers Friday will be Zack Greinke. Greinke is 10-3 with a 3.21 earned run average in 19 starts and threw 6 1/3 shutout innings Saturday against Tampa Bay. He has won back-to-back outings and owns a 2-1 record to go along with a 3.27 ERA in four career games (3 starts) against the Phillies.
Philadelphia has dropped five of six games and lost a recent three-game series with the Atlanta Braves.
After taking Monday's series opener at Turner Field, the Phillies lost the next two contests, including Wednesday's 6-3 setback in which starter John Lannan allowed five runs in 1 1/3 innings before leaving with a knee sprain.
"I felt strong throwing in the outfield, and then it just kind of wears down on me," Lannan said of his knee. "There's really nothing I can do about it. Every time I push off, there is a pain there in the knee."
Domonic Brown hit a two-run homer among his three hits and Darin Ruf added a solo shot for the Phillies, who wrapped up a six-game road trip at 1-5 and will play 10 in a row at home versus Los Angeles, Colorado and Arizona.
Cliff Lee gets the call for the Phils Friday and he is 0-3 in his last four starts - all Philadelphia losses. Lee did not factor in the outcome of an 805 loss at Washington on Saturday and was reached for three runs in six innings. The usually dominant Lee is now 10-5 with a 3.18 ERA in 22 starts overall and sports a 2-1 mark with a 1.40 ERA in six lifetime matchups with the Dodgers.
The Phillies lost three of four games at Dodger Stadium from June 27-30.
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