Last drops are sweet in Grapefruit League

Hiroki Kuroda turned in his most dominant outing of the spring today, holding the Florida Marlins to a run on three hits over five innings in what may prove to be the Dodgers’ final Grapefruit League game ever.

Mark Sweeney provided all the Dodgers’ offense in the 2-1 win with a two-run opposite-field homer in the seventh. But with a swirling 20-mph wind knocking down anything hit in the air, the game belonged to the pitchers - especially Kuroda, the 33-year-old Japanese rookie, who retired 11 in a row after allowing a run on back-to-back hits by Dan Uggla and Luis Gonzalez in the first inning.

Kuroda had surrendered nine runs in 11 hits in his previous five spring training innings.

All-Star closer Takashi Saito, who has been nursing a sore right calf, followed Kuroda to the mound and retired the Marlins in order in just his second appearance of the spring. Saito, who threw 12 pitches, seven for strikes, then returned to the bullpen for some extra work.

After the game the Dodgers were bused the short distance to Palm Beach International Airport for the team’s charter flight to Arizona, where the team will reunite with Manager Joe Torre to finish spring training in Phoenix.

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Sweeney’s homer, his first of the spring, gave the Dodgers a homer in 13 consecutive games, upping their total to 28 in 23 Grapefruit League games. They led National League teams in home runs entering play today after finishing next to last in the league in homers last summer with 129.

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The Dodgers will fund the restoration of a ballpark in China that was built by former owner Peter O’Malley, present owner Frank McCourt said. Dodger Stadium in Tianjin was built in 1986 as a part of the Dodgers’ initial thrust into China. McCourt said the idea for the project came to him when he visited the ballpark on his trip to China in January to help secure permits that would allow the Dodgers to play their recent two-game exhibition series against the San Diego Padres.

“It needs a lot of work,” said McCourt, who estimated the cost could run into the seven figures.

And without that work, the stadium would be demolished and its replacement would be located in a rural area where land is less valuable.

“I do think there’s an opportunity to build good will,” McCourt said. “All of us at the Dodgers wanted to say, ‘Thank you’ to the Chinese people for their hospitality.”

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Backup catcher Gary Bennett, who will turn 36 two weeks into the season, is already making some concessions to age. After 17 seasons of professional baseball and hundreds of thousands of crisp throws back to the pitcher, Bennett now lobs the ball back to the mound after each pitch.

“We throw so much through the year, I’m just trying to save bullets,” he said. “You go through a dead [arm] time in spring training. Throwing to the bases or fielding bunts or whatnot, you have to come up firing. So that’s not a problem.”

Reliever Rudy Seanez said Bennett’s deliberate way of returning the ball to the mound doesn’t bother him or disrupt his rhythm. In fact, he prefers it to the other extreme. While playing in the Dominican Republic one winter, Seanez had a catcher who liked to show off his arm between pitches by firing the ball back to him. After an inning of that, Seanez said, his hand would be sore.

“I’ve had that too,” Bennett said. “In younger days, you feel invincible.”

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The Dodgers confirmed one roster move today, reassigning right-hander Jason Johnson to minor league camp. Johnson, a 10-year big-league veteran and a candidate for the fifth spot in the Dodgers rotation, gave up four earned runs in eight innings this spring.

Times staff writer Dylan Hernandez contributed to this report.

kevin.baxter@latimes.com