Even in Motown, Dodgers are no hit

DETROIT -- Cory Wade managed to produce the kind of fireworks that the Dodgers’ lineup couldn’t, drilling Carlos Guillen on the arm and commanding him to take first base.

But life for the Dodgers has become such that even that bench-clearing incident in the eighth inning Friday night only resulted in further humiliation, in this case the sight of Magglio Ordonez standing to admire his two-run homer that put the finishing touches on their 5-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.

Shut out for the second consecutive day, the Dodgers extended their scoreless streak to 23 innings and fell five games under .500 for the first time this season. They were held to three hits by Tigers starter Armando Galarraga and reliever Freddy Dolsi, spoiling the homecoming of Derek Lowe, who grew up in nearby Dearborn, Mich.

Watching rain pound the field in the hour leading up to the scheduled first pitch and evidently convinced that his start could be pushed back a day, Lowe said loudly in the dugout, “Welcome home.”

The sarcasm might as well have been directed at the other element out of his control, the Dodgers’ offense, which he wasn’t a part of because the designated-hitter rule was in effect.

Lowe gave up two earned runs in seven innings, the pair of fifth-inning runs by Detroit essentially putting the game out of reach.

Manager Joe Torre again lamented the lack of pressure the lineup put on the opposing pitchers and the inverse effect that it had on his starter.

“Every single pitch they throw could be the game,” Torre said. “It takes a lot out of them.”

Lowe, who entered on a two-start winning streak, was gone by the time reporters were let into the clubhouse. But his frustration was on display when he ran to cover first base on a seemingly harmless grounder by Marcus Thames.

The ball hit the glove of James Loney, went through his legs and squirted into right field, allowing Miguel Cabrera to score and increasing the Dodgers’ deficit to 3-0. Standing near the bag, Lowe removed his glove and motioned as if he was about to slam it into the infield dirt.

Only two Dodgers made it into scoring position, Loney in the second and Juan Pierre in the fifth. Loney, who reached third on a triple, was the only Dodger to get a hit that made it out of the infield.

“This is where you become a man,” Pierre said. “We have some young guys going through it for the first time. Lot of guys are getting on-the-job training.”

Some of that frustration boiled over when Wade hit Guillen, which Wade, Torre, Guillen and Tigers Manager Jim Leyland agreed was unintentional.

Guillen said he hurt his right wrist on his first swing of the at-bat while fouling off a fastball.

Catcher Russell Martin admitted that the pitch was intended to be on the inside part of the plate.

“It looks like his hand’s bothering him, so we’re trying to throw it up and in to make him use his hands and that’s it,” Martin said. “He’s probably just frustrated because his hand’s sore, then he gets hit around his hands. I understand his frustration, but you’ve got to know the game.”

Said Torre: “Somebody gets hit by a pitch and he wants to start a war . . . It’s interesting because if it’s thrown where somebody gets hit, it’s on purpose, but if it’s thrown down the middle and it gets hit out of the ballpark, then all of a sudden it’s a mistake. You can’t always throw it where you want to throw it.”

--

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com