Ishii Again Takes It to Limit for Dodgers

The words “Kazuhisa Ishii” really aren’t Japanese for “throw a ton of pitches, struggle with your control and make your coaches squirm.” It only seems that way.

Ishii tested Dodger Manager Jim Tracy’s patience again Tuesday night, walking two of his first three batters and giving up four runs in the third inning, but the left-hander has issued so many free passes and escaped so many jams, Tracy has learned not to panic when he struggles early.

Ishii then rewarded Tracy’s faith in him, settling down after the third while the Dodger offense began to percolate, and the Dodgers wound up with an 8-4 come-from-behind victory over the Milwaukee Brewers before 22,362 in Dodger Stadium.

Marquis Grissom’s two-run home run to left-center in the sixth inning gave the Dodgers a 5-4 lead, and the Dodgers gained some breathing room with a three-run eighth, an inning that included RBI singles by Grissom and pinch-hitter Dave Hansen.

Ishii, who ranks fourth in the National League in walks, lasted 62/3 innings, allowing four runs on six hits, striking out four and walking three, to improve to 8-1. He threw 108 pitches, 65 of them strikes, and helped an overworked bullpen that had thrown 242/3 innings in the last six games.

Reliever Giovanni Carrara, who gave up eight runs and 10 hits in 22/3 innings of his last four appearances, rebounded with 11/3 innings of scoreless relief, making partial amends for the two three-run homers he allowed in Milwaukee’s eight-run eighth inning on May 21, when the Dodgers blew a 5-0 lead and lost, 8-6.

Bryan Corey, recalled from triple-A Las Vegas on Monday, retired the side in order in the ninth, and the Dodgers moved to within 11/2 games of first-place Arizona in the National League West.

“He does make you squirm a bit,” Tracy said of Ishii, “ ... but it was obvious from the fourth inning on that his command of the breaking ball, especially early in the count, made his fastball that much better. He made some quality pitches to get out of some situations. But once he rectified himself ... he’s a very tough guy to deal with.”

When Ishii has struggled with his rhythm this season he’s almost always switched from a full windup to the stretch, so it couldn’t have been comforting to the Dodgers when Ishii opened the game in the stretch position.

Though the Brewers couldn’t capitalize on Ishii’s first-inning walks, they rocked him for four runs on four hits during a 33-pitch third, a rally that was aided by catcher Paul Lo Duca’s throwing error on Alex Sanchez’s bunt that enabled the Brewers to put runners on first and second with no outs.

Eric Young walked to load the bases, and Jeffrey Hammonds bounced into a third-to-home force out. Richie Sexson singled to left for two runs, Alex Ochoa singled to left for one run, and Jose Hernandez’s RBI single to left gave the Brewers a 4-0 lead.

Ishii finally found a groove after Hernandez’s hit, striking out Mark Loretta, retiring Paul Bako on a fly ball and retiring another six in a row before Hernandez’s leadoff single in the sixth. Hernandez reached second on a groundout and took third when second baseman Jeff Reboulet bobbled Glendon Rusch’s grounder up the middle.

But Reboulet made a sniper-like throw to third to nail Hernandez, who had over run the bag, and Ishii was out of trouble. Tracy pulled Ishii in favor of Carrara after Hammonds’ two-out single in the seventh.

“I don’t know how that always comes to happen,” Ishii said through an interpreter, alluding to his struggles. “But my responsibility is to keep the other team with a lower number of runs.”

The Dodgers scored twice in the fourth and once in the fifth before Grissom’s go-ahead homer. Cesar Izturis led off the fourth with an infield single and took second on Young’s throwing error. Izturis advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Adrian Beltre’s single to center.

Shawn Green singled to left, and Eric Karros singled to right to score Beltre and trim the lead to 4-2. Reboulet opened the fifth with an infield single, took second on Ishii’s sacrifice bunt, reached third on Izturis’ infield single and scored on Beltre’s sacrifice fly to center to make it 4-3.

Brian Jordan, who had two hits and scored twice, singled in the sixth before Grissom drove a 2-2 fastball from Rusch over the wall in left-center for his third home run in the last three games.