Martinez Sets Down Arizona

His colleagues in the starting rotation haven’t been all they can be to this point.

They have struggled because of backaches, psychological problems and even a loose acrylic fingernail.

But throughout the chaos, Ramon Martinez has been the Dodgers’ stabilizing force.

And on Saturday night, Martinez was again on top of his game.

After giving up a leadoff single to Andy Fox, he retired 24 consecutive Arizona Diamondbacks on his way to a two-hit 7-1 victory before a sellout crowd of 48,369 Bank One Ballpark.

“I was throwing a lot of strikes, and I had real good location with my pitches,” said Martinez, who pitched his first complete game of the season.

“They were very aggressive, and I was feeling good. I just put the ball where I wanted to, and they were swinging.”

With their third consecutive victory, the Dodgers moved back to .500 at 24-24.

Martinez (6-2) lost his bid for a shutout when Brent Brede led off the ninth with a home run to right on a 1-and-0 count. That ended the Dodgers’ 20-inning scoreless streak, but Martinez retired the next three batters to end the game.

His strong effort came on the heels of Darren Dreifort’s first career shutout Friday.

Had Martinez also shut out the Diamondbacks, it would have marked the first time since May 1995 that Dodger starters pitched consecutive complete-game shutouts. Pedro Astacio and Tom Candiotti last accomplished the feat against the Mets at New York.

“In many ways, this was similar to Darren’s start,” pitching coach Glenn Gregson said of Martinez. “They both stayed ahead in the count all night, they threw first-pitch strikes and they retired the first batter of an inning. I can’t remember five pitches that Ramon had up in the strike zone.”

Martinez was supported by the continued hot hitting of Raul Mondesi and Todd Hollandsworth.

Mondesi hit his 10th homer and drove in three runs, and Hollandsworth had three hits and drove in two runs.

Seven runs was more than enough with the way Martinez pitched.

“Oh my God, he was something else,” said pitcher Ismael Valdes, among the starters who have struggled.

“He was dealing from the first inning. Sometimes people have good stuff, but it takes them to the fourth or fifth to get going. Ramon was ready right from the start.”

Martinez pitched at least seven innings for the seventh time in 11 starts.

The right-hander effectively mixed fastballs, changeups and sliders, and he kept the Diamondbacks off-balance by throwing the changeups and sliders for strikes at any point in the count.

He threw 105 pitches, 70 strikes, while striking out six without a walk. He worked quickly, and the game was completed in only 2 hours 3 minutes.

“Ramon was just awesome,” said Juan Castro, who filled in for injured second baseman Eric Young for the second game in a row.

“He was throwing the ball wherever he wanted--inside, outside, up and down in the zone. His slider was great and his changeup was great. He just did whatever he wanted to do out there.”

With some help from Matt Williams, the Dodgers took a 2-0 lead in the third.

Charles Johnson led off the inning with a line drive that went through the legs of the four-time Gold Glove-winning third baseman.

After Williams’ error, Castro singled to right to put runners at first and third with none out. Castro went to second on Martinez’s sacrifice bunt, and both runners scored on Hollandsworth’s one-out double down the right-field line.

Hollandsworth has thrived in the leadoff role in Young’s absence the last two games, going five for 10 with three runs scored. Mondesi hit a two-run homer in the sixth, and added an RBI single in the eighth. He is batting .387 (12 for 31) in his last eight games.

“Ramon and Dreifort pitched great games, ane we gave them runs,” Mondesi said. “That’s how we can win a lot of games.”