Dodgers lose the game and possibly Saito

By Dylan Hernandez

July 13, 2008 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Takashi Saito walked off the mound, shaking his dangled right arm. Then he walked off the field, his right elbow tight and future in question.

Fourteen pitches into the ninth inning of the Dodgers’ eventual 5-3, 11-inning loss to the Florida Marlins on Saturday at Dodger Stadium, Saito called it a night -- and, perhaps, a career.

The Dodgers’ 38-year-old closer said he felt fine recording the first two outs of the inning. But on the first pitch to the third batter, Wes Helms, Saito said that he was “hit with a sudden tightness.”

That he would notice elbow tightness in a game with his adrenaline flowing, Saito said, was the first sign of trouble.

“The kind of tightness that you feel on the mound isn’t a normal tightness,” he said.

He threw three more pitches.

“It became gradually worse and I thought, ‘This isn’t tightness,’ ” Saito said.

What exactly it is won’t be known until at least Monday, when Saito is scheduled to undergo an MRI exam.

Saito, who was an All-Star last season, had bone chips removed once over his 14-year career in Japan, but said he never felt anything like what he felt on Saturday night.

Asked about his level of concern, Saito said, “I don’t know. There’s nothing I can do.”

Saito, who has 17 saves and a 2.18 earned-run average, has said that because of his age and injury-plagued history in Japan, he has treated every start as if it could be his last. He said he didn’t want Saturday to mark his end because “I didn’t help the team win.”

Saito departed with the count to Helms 2-and-2 and the score tied, 3-3. The Marlins, who lost shortstop Hanley Ramirez in the second inning to a sore right shoulder, ended the stalemate in the 11th. Josh Willingham and Dan Uggla hit consecutive doubles to start the inning and both scored, Willingham on Uggla’s double and Uggla on a sacrifice fly by Cody Ross.

The game, which was pushed into extra innings on an eighth-inning home run by Andre Ethier, marked the fourth consecutive time the Dodgers fell in an extra-inning game at home. The defeat dropped them two games back of first-place Arizona in the National League West.

For Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda, there was no repeat of his last outing, no perfect game into the eighth inning, no one-hit shutout, not even a victory.

Kuroda lasted 6 2/3 innings and was charged with three runs and seven hits. He struck out five. His 95 pitches were four more than he threw over nine innings in a one-hitter on Monday against the Atlanta Braves.

The first of the Marlins’ runs came in the first inning, as Jorge Cantu singled to center field, stole second and scored on a hit by Willingham. The run was the first Kuroda gave up since being activated from the disabled list on July 2.

But Marlins ace Ricky Nolasco, who entered the game having won of nine of his last 10 decisions, also encountered trouble early.

Manager Joe Torre’s experiment to use Nomar Garciaparra as a leadoff hitter produced immediate results, as the shortstop reached base on an infield hit and eventually scored on a bases-loaded groundout by Jeff Kent to tie the score, 1-1. Andruw Jones struck out -- the first of his club-record-tying five in the game -- and James Loney grounded out to leave runners stranded on second and third.

Matt Kemp, who was replaced by Garciaparra atop the Dodgers’ lineup, led off the second inning with a home run that put the Dodgers ahead, 2-1. The home run was the ninth of the season for Kemp.

In the meantime, Kuroda found a rhythm, retiring 12 batters in a row over a stretch that ran from the second to sixth innings. The run was stopped by Cantu, who tied the score, 2-2, by driving his 18th home run several rows deep into the seats inside of the left-field foul pole.

A double by Ross to start the seventh proved costly for Kuroda, as Ross scored on a two-out single by Alfredo Amezaga to put the Marlins ahead, 3-2.

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com