DeWitt takes advantage of opportunity

KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Blake DeWitt wasn’t in the conversation when the Dodgers were talking about their options at third base during the winter. And he wasn’t even in the major league clubhouse a week ago.

But with injuries to Nomar Garciaparra, Andy La Roche and Tony Abreu leaving the Dodgers short of infielders with half the team in China, DeWitt has gotten a chance to show the coaching staff what he can do.

On Thursday, 22-year-old DeWitt speared a line drive to start an unassisted double play, had three hits -- including his second home run in three days -- and drove in three runs in a 7-6 Grapefruit League loss to the Houston Astros.

“I’m just looking at it as a great opportunity to come out here and get some experience,” said DeWitt, who didn’t get his name added to the back of his jersey until his third day with the Dodgers.

“And whatever happens, happens.”

What’s unlikely to happen is left-handed-hitting DeWitt sticking with the big-league club despite a .333 spring average.

But with the Dodgers -- who reportedly investigated several trade scenarios -- now saying they’ll address their third base problems from within, his timing couldn’t be better. Because even if he doesn’t make the team out of spring training, he has given the coaches something to remember.

“Other guys are getting opportunities and aren’t doing anything about it,” third base coach Larry Bowa said. DeWitt, a former first-round draft pick who batted a career-best .292 with 14 homers and 66 RBIs in a 2007 season split behind Class-A Inland Empire and double-A Jacksonville, is “showing people he’s legit.”

Butterfingers

The Dodgers are less than three weeks from opening day but they didn’t look like it Thursday, making four fielding errors and a number of mental errors to drop their third game in a row.

The performance was particularly frustrating for Bowa, who has drilled the team on fundamentals all spring.

“You can’t give teams 30 outs, 32 outs,” he said. “You can’t do it.”

And those mistakes made it a rough day for Hiroki Kuroda, who got a lot of practice working from the stretch during a second inning in which he gave up five runs -- four earned -- and six hits. At one point, he allowed seven consecutive batters to reach base.

But part of the blame for that lies with second baseman Delwyn Young, who made a costly throwing error; right fielder Jason Repko, who misjudged a fly ball that fell for a double; and shortstop Ivan De Jesus, who botched a potential double-play ball.

De Jesus later missed a squeeze sign to short-circuit a rally and Young, who was picked off first, made another throwing error before moving to the outfield, where he finished the day 0 for 4, dropping his average to .121.

“He’s got to do better than he’s doing,” Bowa said of Young. “He’s not swinging the bat and he’s not making plays. You’ve got to do one or the other.”

Around the horn

Abreu, limited to three at-bats this spring by a lingering abdominal injury, was cleared by doctors to resume baseball activities and took batting practice and fielded grounders at Dodgertown. There is no timetable for his return. . . . Mark Sweeney, sidelined since March 4 because of a sore left knee, made a painful return to the lineup when he was hit on the foot in his first at-bat. Sweeney, the Dodgers’ designated hitter, had two singles and an RBI in three subsequent at-bats.

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com