Ross Stripling and Dodgers shut down the Red Sox, 3-0

Ross Stripling may never win a Cy Young Award, and he won’t be rookie of the year, but the least the Dodgers could do after yanking the youngster in so many different directions is name him employee of the month.

Stripling’s 2016 odyssey wound its way back to Dodger Stadium, where the 26-year-old right-hander, making a spot-start for the injured Bud Norris, threw five scoreless innings in Saturday’s 3-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox and earned high praise from the boss.

“We’ve put him in some tough spots, and he’s always risen to the occasion,” Manager Dave Roberts said of Stripling, who allowed four hits, struck out four and walked one. “I can’t say enough about his effort today. He gave us a huge lift.”

Stripling opened the season with 7 1/3 no-hit innings at San Francisco on April 8 and made eight starts before being sent to triple A on May 23.

After a three-inning outing for Oklahoma City, he was placed on the disabled list because of “lower body fatigue,” an injury the team essentially fabricated to restrict his innings in his return from elbow surgery.

Stripling spent June at the team’s Arizona training complex, where he battled boredom while throwing one inning every five days. He returned to triple A in early July, was called up in late July and made three relief appearances for the Dodgers before being sent to Oklahoma City last Tuesday.

Stripling, recalled again Saturday to face a Red Sox team that leads the major leagues in runs and on-base-plus-slugging percentage, did some of his best work in the first inning after Mookie Betts and Brock Holt opened with singles.

Xander Bogaerts struck out on a 2-and-2 curve in the dirt. David Ortiz grounded sharply to the right side where Howie Kendrick, making a rare start at second base after starting in left field in 17 of the previous 18 games, smothered the ball with a diving stop to his left and threw to first for the out.

“That was a game-changer,” Roberts said. “That could have been the difference in the game.”

Jackie Bradley walked to load the bases. Sandy Leon worked a full count before tapping Stripling’s 25th pitch, a changeup, to the mound for the third out.

“That was probably the biggest pitch I threw all day,” Stripling said. “I wanted to make him put it in play. You don’t want to walk in a run. I kind of gripped it and ripped it. I fooled him a little bit, he hit one back to me, and I was able to get out of the jam.”

Stripling needed only 50 pitches to complete the next four innings, showing again that he’s up for anything the Dodgers throw at him.

“You always want a soft landing, a routine, for a young pitcher, but I think he’s really grown because he’s had to be flexible,” Roberts said. “There’s a lot of different things he’s taken from this experience, and I think he’ll be better for it.”

Stripling agreed, despite his lack of a defined role.

“I wouldn’t say it’s been difficult — it’s kept me on my toes,” he said. “It’s nice to have success out of the bullpen and starting. To prove I can do both is good. You want to help team any way you can, and you don’t want to go back to the minor leagues. You can definitely grow from it.”

Left-hander Grant Dayton, a seven-year minor leaguer making his second big league appearance, replaced Stripling and struck out four in two scoreless innings. Joe Blanton threw a scoreless eighth, and Kenley Jensen struck out the side in the ninth for his 33rd save.

Adrian Gonzalez had three singles off Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, one to spark a rally in the second and one to cap a rally in the fifth. Enrique Hernandez singled after Gonzalez in the second, and A.J. Ellis’ two-out, broken-bat single to left made it 1-0.

Chris Taylor singled to lead off the fifth, and Kendrick walked. Corey Seager doubled to right for a 2-0 lead, his 31st double of the season breaking Eric Karros’ rookie record of 30, set in 1992. Gonzalez, with the infield in, blooped an RBI single to shallow center for a 3-0 lead.

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

Twitter: @MikeDiGiovanna