(Sports Network) - The Los Angeles Dodgers will try to send manager Joe Torre off into the sunset with a series win this afternoon against their National League West-rival Arizona Diamondbacks.
Torre announced a month ago he will be stepping down from his duties after battling through his first full losing season as a manager since 1984 with Atlanta.
After the Dodgers dropped the series opener, they rebounded with Saturday's 3-2 victory in the second installment. Chad Billingsley got the win with 7 1/3 innings of two-run ball and nine strikeouts and Kenley Jansen recorded his fourth save in the ninth.
Reed Johnson's sacrifice fly in the sixth plated the decisive run for the Dodgers, who have won four of five and played with infielder Jamey Carroll acting as manager.
"I was obviously very nervous going in. Then we got a lead and you kind of calm down. And of course there at the end it was nerve-wracking," Carroll said. "I had some guys around me to try to slow it down a little bit, which made for a lot of fun, and obviously it's fun when you get the win."
The Dodgers will send Ted Lilly to the bump Sunday and he's 6-4 with a 3.75 ERA in 11 starts with LA since coming over from the Chicago Cubs. Lilly had dropped three straight starts and was 0-4 in his previous five until topping Colorado on the road Monday from Coors Field.
Lilly limited the Rockies to a run and four hits in eight innings, and struck out eight batters for a second straight outing. He is 9-12 in 29 starts with both the Cubs and Dodgers, and is just 2-4 in eight career games, six of which have been starts, against Arizona. The D'Backs beat the lefty back on April 29 this season and pounded him for six runs in five frames of a 13-5 blowout.
Arizona has dropped four of five games and will end a tumultuous season highlighted by the firing of manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Josh Byrnes. Interim skipper Kirk Gibson did an admirable job on the bench and got a great outing from Joe Saunders last night.
Saunders allowed three runs - two earned - and 10 hits through seven innings in the loss.
"He pitched well," Gibson said on the team's site. "He wanted to pitch eight innings, he didn't want me to take him out of the game, but we had to try and score some runs."
Stephen Drew and Tony Abreu each had an RBI for the Diamondbacks, who were outhit 11-5.
Rodrigo Lopez gets ready for his final start of the 2010 campaign and is just 7-15 with a 5.03 earned run average in 32 starts this season. He had a personal two-game winning streak stopped the last time out on Tuesday in a 4-2 setback at San Francisco.
Lopez permitted three runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 frames, falling to 2-8 in his previous 10 decisions. The right-hander lost to Los Angeles back on July 3 in a 14-1 pounding at Chase Field and allowed nine runs -- two earned -- in just 3 2/3 innings. Lopez hasn't fared well in his career against the Dodgers as evidenced by his 1-4 mark in nine career games, eight of which have been starts.
Los Angeles has dominated the season series with Arizona by a 12-5 count and is 6-2 at Dodger Stadium. LA swept a three-game set in Hollywood from May 31 - June 2.