Ishii Gives Dodgers a Lift

By Ben Bolch

May 31, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

A funky thing happened to Kazuhisa Ishii on the way to his first victory in more than three weeks Sunday at Dodger Stadium: A pitcher on the verge of another first-inning meltdown collected himself and retired seven consecutive hitters during the Dodgers’ 3-0 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Not that Ishii had the full confidence of 41,060 after giving up a single and two walks to load the bases with two out in the first. A fan in the upper deck yelled “Get the bullpen ready!” after Ishii issued his second walk of the inning, to Steve Finley, marking the 20th free pass the left-hander had issued in his last 16 innings.

But Ishii rebounded by retiring Shea Hillenbrand on a fielder’s choice to preserve the first of his six scoreless innings as the Dodgers posted consecutive shutouts for the first time since Sept. 12-13 of last season. Ishii allowed only one Diamondback to reach second base during the rest of a start in which he gave up three hits and four walks.

“I just tried to rethink and review what I was working on throughout spring training, keep everything simple,” Ishii said through an interpreter on the adjustments he made since his last start, in which he lasted only 4 2/3 innings.

“Overall, I was happy with my performance. I stayed aggressive, and I think that was the key point.”

Adrian Beltre hit a two-run double to left-center in the first and three relievers shut down Arizona over the final three innings as the Dodgers posted their first series victory since winning two of three games from the Chicago Cubs more than two weeks ago.

The Dodgers (26-22), who won consecutive games for the first time since May 11-12, remained one game behind the San Diego Padres in the National League West.

The Diamondbacks managed only four hits but made things a little more interesting than the Dodgers would have liked in the eighth and ninth.

Chad Tracy led off the eighth with a double to left-center, but Guillermo Mota retired the next two Arizona hitters before Tom Martin struck out Luis Gonzalez, who had four hits in eight at-bats against the left-hander.

Eric Gagne walked Finley on four pitches with one out in the ninth and hit pinch-hitter Carlos Baerga on the right forearm with a pitch one out later. Diamondback Manager Bob Brenly summoned pinch-hitter Brent Mayne, who had four hits in eight at-bats against the Dodger closer. But Gagne struck out Mayne to record his 12th save and 75th in a row.

“Today I was off a little bit with my mechanics,” said Gagne, who pitched in a second consecutive game for the first time since May 8-9. “You have to get your arm back in shape.”

The Dodgers scored all the runs they would need in the first off Casey Fossum (0-3). Paul Lo Duca hit a two-out single to right-center and went to second on Shawn Green’s walk. Beltre then hit his double to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.

Green made it 3-0 in the sixth when he hit a run-scoring single up the middle off reliever Mike Koplove. The first baseman has five hits and three runs batted in his last 12 at-bats, encouraging numbers for a player who had been stuck in an extended funk.

“I made a few adjustments with my stride, and I feel a lot better,” Green said. “The last two and a half games I’ve felt a lot better, and hopefully I keep it going.”

The Dodger who appears most locked in at the plate is Lo Duca, who had three hits Sunday to finish with eight in the three-game series. His ninth-inning groundout ended a streak of seven consecutive hits and eight consecutive plate appearances in which he had reached base, but his .366 batting average is still good for second best in the National League.

“I hope I can keep it going all the way through October,” Lo Duca said. “I feel good. I’m not trying to do too much; I’m just trying to get base hits.”

The same could be said for Ishii (6-3), who earned his first victory since May 6. The left-hander retired the Diamondbacks in order in three of the first five innings before tiring a bit in the sixth.

“The adjustment that I saw him make was that he slowed down and stayed back [on his delivery], and when he does that he gets himself in the [strike] zone and he gets himself in the zone with his fastball, breaking ball and changeup,” Manager Jim Tracy said.

Said catcher David Ross: “He got out of some jams tonight and threw some good pitches. That seems to be typical of him when the game is on the line.”