Chad Billingsley has wasted no time proving his career year for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2008 was not a fluke.
The 24-year-old looks to become the majors' first five-game winner Tuesday night while trying to help the visiting Dodgers avoid a third straight loss when they continue their three-game set with the San Francisco Giants.Billingsley (4-0, 2.05 ERA) allowed three hits and struck out five in 7 1-3 innings of Los Angeles' 2-0 win at Houston on Thursday to become the first Dodgers pitcher to win his first four starts of the season since Kazuhisa Ishii won his first six in 2002.
Kansas City's Zack Greinke, Toronto's Roy Halladay and St. Louis' Joel Pineiro also have four victories.
Billingsley has allowed 14 hits, while striking out 26 and walking nine in 26 1-3 innings in 2009 after setting career bests for wins (16) and ERA (3.14) last season.
"Things are going well right now," Billingsley told the Dodgers' official Web site. "I just go from start to start, trying to go out there and repeat everything. There are days when you don't have your best stuff up there, but that's when you have to compete with what you've got and try to keep the game close."
The right-hander is 3-0 with a 2.88 ERA in seven starts against San Francisco and allowed a run with five hits while striking out 11 in seven innings of an 11-1 home win over the Giants on April 13.
The Dodgers (13-7) could use another strong outing from Billingsley after falling 5-4 at San Francisco on Monday in a game attended by former Giant and current home run king Barry Bonds.
Los Angeles, which swept a three-game set from the Giants two weeks ago, hasn't lost three in a row in 2009.
"We're a good team," Los Angeles pitcher Randy Wolf said. "We'll recover."
Manny Ramirez had two hits with an RBI and Casey Blake's two-run homer highlighted a four-run seventh that gave Los Angeles a 4-3 lead before the Giants (9-9) scored two in the bottom of the eighth.
Ramirez is batting .405 (15-for-37) with four homers and 10 RBIs in his last nine games and .339 (20-for-59) with 15 RBIs in 17 games against San Francisco. He homered in his only career at-bat against Giants' scheduled starter Jonathan Sanchez.
Sanchez (1-1, 3.65) makes his first start since April 17 after the team skipped his last start due to an off day.
While he pitched a scoreless inning of relief at Arizona on Saturday, Sanchez allowed two hits in 6 2-3 innings of a 2-0 win over the Diamondbacks in his last start.
"Sometimes I have it, sometimes I don't," Sanchez said. "I felt strong. I was feeling good. I went out there and did what I had to do."
The left-hander is 0-1 with a 5.63 ERA in three starts against Los Angeles.
Edgar Renteria had two hits and scored the winning run Monday for the Giants, who have won seven of nine since starting 2-7.
Randy Winn added a triple with an RBI for San Francisco, which has won five of its last six at home versus Los Angeles. Winn is batting .471 (8-for-17) against Billingsley.
