Dodgers Barely Give Colon a Challenge

Andy Ashby sorted through a rubber tub of bats in the Dodger clubhouse Saturday afternoon, several hours before taking the mound as a fill-in starter against the Chicago White Sox. After a few moments, Ashby found a piece of lumber to his liking and headed out for batting practice.

Turns out he was being a little presumptuous.

Ashby lasted only three innings, giving up three hits and two runs before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the third inning. Wilson Alvarez relieved Ashby as planned and fared slightly better, limiting his former team to two solo home runs over five innings.

But on an evening when the Dodgers were concerned about stopgap pitching, it was their meek offense that again proved to be the letdown in a 4-1 loss in front of 44,122 at Dodger Stadium.

“There was no disappointment in what we saw from our pitchers tonight -- and that includes Andy Ashby and Wilson Alvarez,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “I have to be encouraged by our pitching, that we got through tonight and were shut down by a very good right-handed pitcher.”

The Dodgers (34-27), who fell to four games behind the San Francisco Giants in the National League West, scored against Bartolo Colon in the ninth inning on Shawn Green’s sacrifice fly to center field. Alex Cora raced home to polite applause from a crowd convinced a further rally was unlikely. Fred McGriff flied out to end the game.

“I threw pitches wherever I wanted. It kept me from a big inning,” Colon, who struck out five and walked none for his fifth complete game, said through an interpreter. “I’m disappointed I gave up a run, but I’ll take the win.”

The Dodgers’ only other offensive highlight came in the first inning, when Paul Lo Duca singled to extend his career-high hitting streak to 16 games.

Ashby (0-4), tabbed for the start after Darren Dreifort was lost for the season because of knee problems, had the luxury of pitching without external pressure. Tracy insisted before the game that he had no expectations for Ashby and that no matter how well or poorly the right-hander pitched, he would start again Saturday against the Cleveland Indians.

Ashby escaped the first two innings unscathed after giving up only a single to Frank Thomas that Brian Jordan nearly caught in center field.

Things changed quickly in the third inning after No. 8 hitter Miguel Olivo drew a leadoff walk and a visibly frustrated Ashby started rushing his delivery. Olivo moved to second on a bunt and scored on D’Angelo Jimenez’s single to right past a diving McGriff. Jimenez stole second, moved to third on a fly ball and scored on Magglio Ordonez’s single to right.

“It kind of felt like a waste going out there for three innings,” said Ashby, who was lifted after 56 pitches, “but it’s part of a step I have to take to get my pitch count up.”

Promoted from triple-A Las Vegas earlier in the day, Alvarez shut down Chicago in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, escaping a two-on, two-out jam in the fifth when he retired Carlos Lee on a groundout. Alvarez retired the first two batters he faced in the seventh before Thomas, his former teammate, homered to left on an inside fastball.

In the eighth, Alvarez gave up a two-out homer to Joe Crede on an outside fastball.

Tracy committed to using some combination of Ashby and Alvarez for at least three more starts through July 5, allowing the remainder of the rotation to pitch on a normal amount of rest. The manager said he would only veer from that formula if one of the regular starters needed a day off and Ashby or Alvarez had built up stamina.

Alvarez, a 33-year-old left-hander trying to resurrect his career after five unremarkable years in the Tampa Bay organization, said he was willing to help the Dodgers as a reliever or a starter.