LOS ANGELES -- A.J. Ellis hasnt had many opportunities to drive in important runs for the Los Angeles Dodgers this season because of his two stints on the disabled list. But Ellis was in the batters box at the right time Saturday night. His bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the ninth inning lifted the Dodgers 1-0 victory over the San Diego Padres and increased his RBI total to seven. "Its great to be in those situations. Its something you always want to be a part of," Ellis said. "After the eighth inning, I looked up at the scoreboard. I saw where I was hitting and I said, You know, theres a chance something could happen in the ninth. "And I got in a position to be the guy who drives in the big run." Adrian Gonzalez greeted Kevin Quackenbush (1-2) with a leadoff double before Matt Kemp struck out and Andre Ethier was intentionally walked. Juan Uribe then worked out a seven-pitch walk that included two checked swings that were upheld on appeal by first base umpire Jim Wolf. Ellis then lifted a 1-2 pitch to right field after Padres manager Bud Black then employed a drawn-in five-man infield. "You cant even look at them," Ellis said. "One of the worst things you can do as a hitter is try to direct the ball. You just hit it where its pitched. In that situation, Im looking to get a ball in the outfield, anyway, so the infield is the least of my concerns. Im just looking for something up that I could hit to centre or right, and I was really happy to find a pitch up there." Kenley Jansen (1-3) pitched a scoreless ninth for the victory, striking out cleanup hitter Yasmani Grandal with runners at first and second. The Dodgers win, coupled with San Franciscos loss, put the Dodgers back in front of the Giants by a full game in the NL West. Left-hander Paul Maholm, coming out of the bullpen to make a spot start for the injured Josh Beckett, threw 64 pitches through the first six innings -- using just nine in the first, third, fourth and sixth. "Unfortunately for Josh, he had to miss a start and go on the DL, so I had to step in," Maholm said. "Ive made it known to the front office that I want to start, and thats my gig. But I signed up for this. So whenever the call, they call -- whether its one hitter or a couple of innings, I just want to pitch." It was Maholms 250th career start, his eighth this season and first since May 14 against the Marlins, when he was charged with 10 runs -- five earned -- over 3 2-3 innings in a 13-3 loss at Dodger Stadium. The Padres only hits off him were singles in the fourth and seventh by Chase Headley, whose solo homer in Thursdays series opener ended Clayton Kershaws string of 41 consecutive scoreless innings. Maholm, who came in 1-6 with a 4.27 ERA in his eight previous career starts against San Diego, was lifted by manager Don Mattingly after Headleys leadoff hit. Brandon League finished the seventh after retiring Carlos Quentin on a double-play grounder to third with his second pitch. Ian Kennedy held the Dodgers to three hits over eight innings and struck out eight, after back-to-back victories over Cincinnati and Colorado. This was the third straight start in which he pitched at least six innings while allowing fewer than two earned runs, and the ninth overall under those circumstances. St. Louis Adam Wainwright leads the NL with 12 such outings. "Thats a really good lineup, but youve just got to navigate through it and execute pitches," Kennedy said. "Later on in the game, my curveball was better, sharper. It wasnt very good in the bullpen and I was bouncing it. But my fastball location was keeping me ahead of guys." Dodgers All-Star right fielder Yasiel Puig was ejected by umpire David Rackley after he took a called third strike to end the third inning. His only other ejection in the majors was on June 11, 2013 -- his ninth big league game -- after a bench-clearing incident that also involved Kennedy. NOTES: By virtue of Puigs ejection, Ethier and Kemp found themselves at the same positions they had for most of their careers before Puig came along. Ethier moved from centre to right, Kemp from left to centre, and Carl Crawford went in to play left. ... The Padres are taking advantage of the four-day All-Star break by optioning RHP Jesse Hahn (5-2, 2.21 ERA) to Triple-A El Paso after he pitched six innings of three-hit ball Friday night in his seventh big league start and beat the Dodgers 6-3. Manager Bud Black said the club will continue to keep a close eye on Hahns innings the rest of the season. ... INF Jace Peterson was recalled by the Padres to fill in for injured 1B Tommy Medica, who was removed from Thursdays game because of tightness in his groin and remains on the active roster. ... Kershaw shaved off his scraggly beard for Sunday nights trip to Minnesota and his fourth career All-Star game. New England Patriots Gear .Y. -- Syracuses streak lives on -- barely. Patriots Jerseys China . There was little fanfare, though, when the Yankees captain was taken out of his final regular-season Subway Series game in the eighth inning. Jeter watched the last four outs from the bench, pulled off the field during a double switch Thursday night as the Yankees held off the Mets 1-0. https://www.patriotsjerseysale.com/. Ashley Wagner will skate in the womens short program for a U.S. team thats in seventh place. Davis and White won the silver medal at the Vancouver Games and are two-time world champions. Patriots Jerseys 2019 . The 18-year-old Januzaj has made his breakthrough at United this season, including scoring twice in a 2-1 win over Sunderland before the recent international break. His performances have sparked a debate about where his international future lies. Stitched Patriots Jerseys . Crawford hit his slam off Pirates starter Edinson Volquez to give San Francisco a four run lead in the fourth and they never looked back. Brandon Belt had three runs batted in as well. Bumgarner pitched all nine innings and allowed just four hits.CHICAGO -- Toronto Marlies goalie Drew MacIntyre knew a 3-0 lead wouldnt hold against the increasingly desperate Chicago Wolves on Saturday. But MacIntyre and defenders in front of him withstood a late Wolves push to claim a 4-2 victory and 2-0 advantage in the Western Conference semifinal series. "They were buzzing, they were more desperate after (our) 3-0 lead and really dominated us at times," said MacIntyre, who was provided with a three-goal first period cushion. "I think we sat back and let them come a We have to be better when were having that lead and still play like its a 0-0 game." Still, the club heads home with a chance to clinch the American Hockey League series on home ice with three scheduled games at Ricoh Coliseum. "You come into these series and hope to find a way to get into overtime one night and steal a game and to come out with two is great," Marlies coach Steve Spott said. "I give Chicago a lot of credit. They threw everything they had at us and we had to weather the storm." It took just 64 seconds for Torontos first strike. Centre Peter Holland picked up a loose puck following a Wolves turnover behind their net and dumped a shot past Chicago goalie Jake Alllen for a 1-0 lead. Toronto made it 2-0 at 7:38 mark when Brandon Kozun lined up for a shot on goal but found cenntre Trevor Smith open to Allens right.dddddddddddd. Kozun instead send a feed and Smith had an easy tap-in. Three minutes later, right winger Kenny Ryan swept towards Allen, who moved to block an opening. Ryan then spun and slipped a feed to winger Josh Leivo, who sent a shot over Allens shoulder for a 3-0 lead at 14:46. The Wolves finally scored as right winger Shane Harper broke MacIntyres shutout at 1:46 of the third. Chicago narrowed the margin to 3-2 on left winger Dmitrij Jaskins power-play goal at 17:21, but Marlies left winger Jerry DAmigo secured the win with an empty netter with 57 seconds to play. "We became a harder hockey club, a more seasoned hockey club," Spott said. "Its really the first time we had to deal with big-time adversity, so its nice that we dealt with it." MacIntyre made 22 saves for the win while Allen turned away 18 shots in defeat. "Theyre goalie played good and he blocked a lot of our shots but you cant make four or five horrendous errors early in the game to get down like that," said Wolves coach John Anderson. "Other than that we came along, we regrouped and had a pretty decent game after that. But 3-0 against a team like that is pretty tough." The series shifts to Toronto for games on Wednesday and Friday and, if necessary, next Saturday. ' ' '