Nervous Kuroda pitches well

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- When Hiroki Kuroda stepped onto a major league mound for the first time Friday, he immediately sensed that he was in a kind of environment that he had never previously set foot.

He didn’t hear the drums or trumpets that he heard in every game he pitched for the Hiroshima Carp in Japan over the last 11 years. Here, he said, “You feel the fans are really paying attention to the game.”

Pitching in front of what he was convinced was an attentive crowd and a national television audience on ESPN, Kuroda faced the minimum number of batters in his two innings.

“I’m relieved,” said Kuroda, who didn’t get a decision in the Dodgers’ 10-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves. The only batter to get a hit off him was the first one he faced, Kelly Johnson.

In part because he was nervous and in part because he was aware of the reputations of the Braves’ left-handed hitters -- Chipper Jones and Mark Teixeira were among them -- Kuroda said he overthrew when trying to challenge them on the inside part of the plate. But as nervous as he was, Kuroda said, he wasn’t as nervous as he was on the previous day, when he dressed up as Elvis Presley and sang “Love Me Tender” in front of the entire team as part of the “Dodger Idol” competition.

Kuroda’s fastball sat mostly in the 91-93-mph range and topped out at 94, and he said he was pleased with the two-seamers he threw to left-handers on the outside. Because he exited with a pitch count of only 21, he threw in the bullpen in the next inning.

Manager Joe Torre was impressed with what he saw from the 33-year-old right-hander, who signed a three-year, $35.3-million contract.

“The thing about Kuroda is the fact that he changes speeds -- and that doesn’t always mean it’s a changeup,” Torre said. “He can throw at 89, 92, 94 . . . that’s the tough thing to gauge.”

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Taking the fifth

Torre said he hasn’t looked at anyone outside of Jason Schmidt and Esteban Loaiza for the fifth spot in the rotation, but he could soon be forced to explore other options.

Schmidt was scratched from his throwing session today because he hadn’t recovered from the fatigue that he felt in his arm in his previous bullpen Tuesday. “He hasn’t been sent for any kind of test and if there had been any kind of alarm connected with it, I’m sure that’s what would’ve happened,” Torre said.

Loaiza, who was 1-4 with an 8.34 earned-run average in five starts for the Dodgers last season, was tagged for four hits and three runs in two innings. He gave up a two-run home run to Javy Lopez. Loaiza said he was working on a new leg kick suggested to him by pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, and was drawing his left leg across his body instead of pulling it straight back.

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Helmet heads

Base coaches Larry Bowa and Mariano Duncan wore helmets at the request of Torre, who received a call from assistant general manager Kim Ng on Thursday night informing him that the league was threatening to eject them if they again violated the new rule requiring them to do so.

The coaches wore caps in the Dodgers’ exhibition opener Thursday, after which Bowa spoke out strongly against the new rule that requires him to wear a helmet. “I fought Joe,” Bowa said. “But he asked me to do it for him.”

Torre said that he and General Manager Ned Colletti would discuss the matter with baseball officials in an afternoon conference call.

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com