Dodgers put reliever Cory Wade on disabled list

Pitching for the Dodgers is easier this season than it was a year ago, according to Chad Billingsley.

“It makes it a little bit easier to pitch knowing the guys are going to put runs up on the board for you,” Billingsley said.

Billingsley improved to 3-0 on a day he admitted to not having “my great stuff,” earning the decision in the Dodgers’ 9-5 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday.

Billingsley held the Rockies to three runs and four hits over six innings, his start cut short by a pitch count that reached 111. He struck out six and walked three.

“The first innings, they battled me and fouled off a lot of pitches,” he said.

But Billingsley said he knew the run support would come.

“We have a dangerous lineup,” he said. “If we can constantly do this, who knows what can happen?”

By the end of the fourth inning, the Dodgers’ hitters had handed Billingsley a five-run cushion.

“We’re going to score runs,” Manager Joe Torre said. “That’s probably as big an asset as anything to the ballclub because the pitchers don’t think they have to be perfect.”

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Addition to the DL

Right-handed reliever Cory Wade joined opening-day starter Hiroki Kuroda on the disabled list, as he continues to be bothered by the same shoulder problem that sidelined him last summer.

Wade’s move to the 15-day disabled list is retroactive to April 12, meaning he could be activated as soon as April 27, the day the Dodgers open a three-game series in San Francisco.

Wade was replaced on the active roster by hard-throwing left-hander Scott Elbert, who was recalled from double-A Chattanooga (Tenn.).

Wade’s shoulder problems last year were blamed on his workload, as he pitched a team-high 71 1/3 innings of relief. He is 0-1 with a 4.91 earned-run in four games this season.

Wade said his shoulder started to bother him again when he threw a perfect inning in Arizona on April 11.

The appearance was Wade’s third in four days. He hasn’t pitched since.

Elbert, 23, was a late-season addition to the bullpen last year. He was starting in double A, with an 0-0 record and a 3.38 ERA through his first two appearances. He was stretched out to four innings in his most recent start.

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Eyeing comeback

Doug Mientkiewicz, who will undergo surgery to repair his dislocated right shoulder Monday, said he expected to be back this season.

Until then, Mientkiewicz said he would “watch every pitch of every game.”

“I did it last night,” he said. “My wife thinks I’m losing my mind. I’m giving air-high-fives. I never want to be out of sight, out of mind.”

The 34-year-old utilityman said he was confident he could be a factor when he returns to the club.

When Mientkiewicz played under Manager Joe Torre in New York in 2007, he missed three months because of a broken wrist.

But he returned to hit .429 in the final month of the season.

“I basically played the best baseball I’ve ever played,” he said.

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Short hops

Matt Kemp extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a run-scoring single in the seventh inning. . . . The Dodgers rested three starters -- catcher Russell Martin, shortstop Rafael Furcal and third baseman Casey Blake. They were replaced by Brad Ausmus, Juan Castro and Blake DeWitt. . . . Dodgers pinch-hitters are batting .438 (seven for 16). Mark Loretta had a pinch-hit single in the sixth inning; Juan Pierre flied out in the eighth.

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com