Mulholland Going Through ‘Rough Spell’

Manager Jim Tracy and pitching Jim Colborn said they still have confidence in struggling left-hander Terry Mulholland, who did not pitch in Tuesday’s 6-5, 16-inning victory over the Atlanta Braves

The Dodgers used six pitchers in the 5-hour 19-minute marathon. Right-hander Giovanni Carrara worked five scoreless innings, giving up two hits, and Jesse Orosco pitched the final inning to nail down his first save since 1999.

And Mulholland?

“Trace and I have real confidence in him, and [Tuesday’s game] wasn’t an indication of anything,” Colborn said. “The fact that Giovanni had so few pitches allowed him to pitch five innings and keep potentially our most effective pitcher in the game longer.

“If we would have used Terry, say we would have pinch-hit for Gio, and then we’ve got to pinch-hit hit for Terry, then you’ve got one inning left from Jesse Orosco. We had to keep the possibility of playing even more innings. ... We had to be prepared if that happened.”

However, Mulholland’s shaky performance has affected the bullpen rotation.

The 14-year veteran has a 10.80 earned-run average without a decision. Mulholland has given up 21 hits--including seven home runs--and 14 earned runs in 112/3 innings, and opponents are batting .382 against him.

Mulholland had a 5.83 ERA in 19 games for the Dodgers last season after being acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 31. He has a salary of $3 million this season in the final year of a two-year, $6-million contract.

“He’s had a rough spell,” Colborn said. “But our attitude is, based on his career, that we know what to expect from him [over an entire season]. Now the rest is up to us to give him enough chances for him to find himself.

“He’ll get his time. It’s been hard now, but he’s going to play an important part before we’re done. He’ll be a hero before it’s all over.”

*

One night after suffering his first blown save, closer Eric Gagne rebounded by striking out the side swinging to nail down his 11th in a 3-1 victory.

Gagne gave up a two-out solo home run to Gary Sheffield in the ninth Tuesday on a 96-mph fastball, and has fastball was clocked at 97 mph Wednesday.

“Obviously, he’s still a very young guy, and he got a lesson taught to him by a premier player in this league,” Tracy said of the Gagne-Sheffield battle. “He rebounded very nicely.”

Said Gagne: “You can’t throw a pitch hard enough that Sheff can’t catch up with.”

TONIGHT

DODGERS’

ANDY ASHBY

(2-2, 3.16 ERA)

vs.

BRAVES’

DAMIAN MOSS

(0-0, 2.61 ERA)

Turner Field, 4:30 p.m. PDT

TV--Fox Sports Net 2.

Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330)

Update--Moss pitched seven no-hit innings against St. Louis in his last start and was pulled after throwing 116 pitches.