LOS ANGELES - Knowing a win was within his reach, speedy Shane Victorino wasn't going to slow down.
Victorino followed Mark Ellis home on a two-run double by Adrian Gonzalez in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.
"I was going to go until Tim (Wallach, the Dodgers' third-base coach) told me to stop," said Victorino, one of the major leagues' two active Maui-born players. "He waved me and I said, 'Here we go.' "
Article Photos
Matt Kemp reacts as Shane Victorino scores in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.
AP Photo
Los Angeles remained a half-game behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the race for the second National League wild card, and stayed 4 1/2 back of the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants.
Ronald Belisario (4-1) pitched a scoreless ninth inning, striking out three batters while allowing a double to Chris Johnson.
Gonzalez had struggled since the Aug. 25 deal that brought him, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Nick Punto to Los Angeles from the Boston Red Sox. Gonzalez was 6-for-33 in eight games with his new team, then struck out twice and grounded out in his first three at-bats Sunday.
He doubled in the seventh before his even bigger two-bagger in the ninth on an 0-2 pitch from J.J. Putz (1-5).
"These are fun moments," Gonzalez said. "They don't come too often so you got to enjoy them."
Los Angeles had lost four of its previous six games, surpassing four runs just once in that span.
"It's a matter of time before this offense gets clicking on all cylinders. We're capable of scoring 10, 15 runs," said Victorino, who was traded to the Dodgers from the Philadelphia Phillies a month ago. "Sometimes it takes a certain time to get people going in the same direction."
In the ninth, Bobby Abreu struck out leading off before Ellis' singled and a walk to Victorino brought up Gonzalez.
"I got ahead of Adrian right there and tried to elevate to get him to chase it, but I just didn't get it up enough," Putz said. "The walk is the one that hurts. I was rushing to the plate, trying to be quick and try to keep Ellis from trying to swipe the bag."
