Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
LA Dodgers 6, Atlanta 2
When: 7:10 PM ET, Saturday, August 18, 2012
Where: Turner Field, Atlanta, Georgia
Temperature: 79°
Umpires: Home - Mike Winters, 1B - Mark Wegner, 2B - Wally Bell, 3B - Brian Knight
Attendance: 42219

Dodgers 6, Braves 2:
Hanley Ramirez homered twice and had four RBIs and Aaron Harang pitched 6 2/3 solid innings as visiting Los Angeles snapped Atlanta’s four-game winning streak.

Ramirez, James Loney and Luis Cruz hit back-to-back-to-back homers off Ben Sheets in the third inning as the Dodgers won despite the absence of manager Don Mattingly, suspended two games earlier in the day because of Thursday’s ejection against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Los Angeles remained one-half game behind San Francisco in the National League West. The Giants beat San Diego 8-7 on Saturday.

Harang (9-7) allowed one run and four hits before departing. He struck out eight and walked five.

The Braves loaded the bases with three walks in the eighth before Kenley Jansen entered and fanned pinch hitter Juan Francisco. Jansen allowed a homer to Martin Prado in the ninth before recording his 25th save in 31 opportunities.

The Dodgers led 3-1 in the sixth before Ramirez lined a three-run shot into the left-field bleachers against Sheets (4-3) for his 13th career multi-homer game. Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier walked prior to Ramirez’s second homer of the contest, which raised his RBI count since joining the Dodgers to 27 in 23 games.

Atlanta struck in the first when Michael Bourn drew a leadoff walk and scored on a double to left-center field by Prado.

The Dodgers, who were managed by Trey Hillman, struck for their three consecutive homers with one out in the second during a four-pitch sequence by Sheets.

Ramirez began the stretch with a booming homer to straightaway center. Loney followed with a line shot that just got over the right-field fence and Cruz hit the next pitch into the left-field bleachers.

Sheets allowed six runs and four hits in six innings.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Ramirez has three multi-homer games against the Braves, the other two coming in 2008 and 2009 when he was with the Marlins. … Sheets had allowed only two homers in six starts this season before Saturday’s four-homer barrage. … Loney’s homer was his first in 39 career games against Atlanta. … Braves C Brian McCann (shoulder) was held out for the second straight contest.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
LA Dodgers   Atlanta
Aaron Harang Player Ben Sheets
Win W/L Loss
6.2 IP 6.0
8 Strikeouts 3
4 Hits 4
1.35 ERA 9.00
Hitting
LA Dodgers   Atlanta
Hanley Ramirez Player Martin Prado
2 Hits 2
4 RBI 2
2 HR 1
8 TB 6
.500 Avg .400
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
LA Dodgers 4 4 16 .129 1 3 6 3 1 0
Atlanta 5 1 13 .156 19 12 2 8 0 0