James Loney knocked in four runs and Los Angeles got home runs from Russell Martin and Matt Kemp. Jeff Kent had four hits, picking up starter Brad Penny who was hammered for eight hits and six runs over his five innings on the mound.
Scott Proctor was brilliant, working three shutout innings, allowing a single run, and got the final outs in the 12th on a double play with runners at first and third.
It looked like one of those days when Washington rammed over four runs in the second inning off Penny. They roughed up relievers Mark Hendrickson to extended the lead to 8-3 going into the last of the six.
Russell Martin hit his 17th homer in the second inning to cut the Nats lead to 4-2 and James Loney drove in a run with a single in the fourth to keep the Dodgers in the game.
Then in the last of the sixth inning they jumped right back in the game, scoring five times, keyed by Loney's three-run double that drove in Kent, Luis Gonzalez and Martin. Hillenbrand's home run scored Loney to tie the game 8-8.
Washington scored the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh, when Rudy Seanez hit a batter who later scored on a hit given up by Joe Beimel.
Then it was Matt Kemp's turn. He crushed his nine home run into the right field seats in the bottom of the seventh to tie things again, then it settled into a battle of the bullpens.
Jonathan Broxton and Takaski Saito each allowed a hit in a scoreless inning before Proctor took over and completely smothered the Washington bats.
Jeff Kent led off the last of the 12th with his fourth hit and quickly moved to third when Martin doubled into the right field corner. Loney was walked and Hillenbrand lofted a fly to medium right field. The throw was up the first base line and Kent's head-first slide eluded the tag at home to give the Dodgers an improbable 10-9 win.
After a well-earned day off today, veteran lefty David Wells (6-8,1-0 with L.A) takes on the NL Wild Card-leading Padres on Friday at PETCO Park.
Score by innings
Washington 041 012 100 000-8
Los Angeles 020 105 100 001-9
Los Angeles ab r h bi ave
Furcal ss 6 0 0 0 .278
Pierre cf 6 0 1 0 .288
Kemp rf 6 1 1 1 .328
Kent 2b 5 3 4 0 .296
Gonzalez lf 2 2 1 0 .279
Seanez p 0 0 0 0 .000
Beimel p 0 0 0 0 .000
Martinez ph 0 0 0 0 .000
Broxton p 0 0 0 0 .000
Saito p 0 0 0 0 .000
Saenz ph 1 0 0 0 .182
Proctor p 0 0 0 0 .000
Stults ph 1 0 0 0 .000
Martin c 5 2 2 2 .297
Loney 1b 5 1 2 4 .303
Hillenbrand 2b 5 1 2 3 .254
Penny p 1 0 0 0 .245
Sweeney ph 1 0 0 0 .252
Hendrickson p 0 0 0 0 .038
Ethier ph-lf 3 0 1 0 .292
Totals 47 10 14 10
Washington 47 9 16 9
2B- Kent 2 (33), Loney (11), Martin (29).
HR- Matin (17), Hillenbrand (4), Kemp (9).
RBI- Martin 2 (77), Loney 4 (35), Hillenbrand
3 (31). S- Martinez. SF- Hillenbrand. CS-
Martin (7). LOB- Los Angeles 8, Washington
(7). DP- Kent, Furcal and Loney 2; Hillenbrand,
Kent and Loney.
Los Angeles in h r-er bb so era
Penny 5.0 8 6-6 2 1 2.88
Hendrickson 1.0 3 2-2 0 1 5.16
Seanez 0.1 0 1-1 0 0 3.50
Beimel 0.2 2 0-0 0 0 3.97
Broxton 1.0 1 0-0 0 1 2.19
Saito 1.0 1 0-0 0 2 1.33
Proctor (5-5) 3.0 1 0-0 1 0 3.91
HBP- by Seanez. T- 4:05. Att-41,913.
Dodger Blue Notes-- Kemp's game-tying home run to right field in the seventh inning was his ninth of the year and all nine have come at Dodger Stadium. Kemp is hitting .439 (47-for-107) with six homers, 25 runs and 27 RBI in Dodger wins as opposed to .198, three, nine and six in losses. ...Kent had two doubles, raising his career total to 534 and tying Lou Gehrig for 27th place. Tuesday night, Kent passed Joe DiMaggio on the career home run list with his 362nd. ...Stults lost his starting position by the addition of Esteban Loaiza but he still can be called on in a pinch. For a pinch-hit that is. He batted for Proctor in the last of the 12th but struck out. ...Mark Sweeney's pinch-hit double Tuesday night was the 158th pinch-hit of his career, which ranks second all-time to Washington coach and former Dodger Lenny Harris (212). Ranking third on that list is Dodgers coach Manny Mota. Sweeney is hitting .320 (8-for-20) in the month of August and has three pinch-hits for the Dodgers since being acquired on Aug. 9. ...Prior to the game, Dodger legend Wes Parker was honored in recognition of his being selected as the greatest defensive first baseman of the last half-century in a fan ballot conducted by Rawlings. Parker won six consecutive Gold Gloves in Los Angeles from 1967-72.