Mota Mightier in ‘Pen Than as Spot Starter

Both times the Dodgers have needed an emergency starter this season, they’ve turned to triple-A Las Vegas, recalling Scott Mullen to pitch against Atlanta on Aug. 3 and Masao Kida to pitch against the Cubs on Friday.

Guillermo Mota, who has thrived in his role as middle and short reliever, would seem to be a viable candidate for a spot start -- some believe he has the stuff and makeup to be a full-time rotation candidate -- but Manager Jim Tracy has been hesitant to use the right-hander in that capacity.

“It would mess up our bullpen, and it infringes on the psyche of that individual because he’s awfully good where we have him,” Tracy said of Mota, who is 3-2 with a 1.62 earned-run average, 71 strikeouts and 17 walks in 77 2/3 innings.

“I’m not going to ask him to start a game and throw 60 or 70 pitches. That’s throwing the dice a little too hard. He’s become a special commodity for this club, and that’s a risk I’d rather not take.”

Kida survived a shaky first inning Friday, giving up a leadoff single to Kenny Lofton and Sammy Sosa’s RBI double, but the right-hander retired Sosa with two on in the third and ended the inning with a bases-loaded strikeout of Hee Seop Choi.

His two-run, five-inning effort, followed by Paul Shuey’s two scoreless relief innings and Paul Quantrill’s scoreless eighth, gave the Dodgers a chance in a game they lost, 2-1.

“Kida has stuff good enough to get major league hitters out,” Tracy said. “What he has to develop is consistency of his delivery so the quality of his strikes are there.”

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Remember earlier this season, when speedy opponents were running the Dodgers ragged and catcher Paul Lo Duca wondered if he would snap out of his throwing rut?

How’s this for a slump-buster: Since Florida’s Luis Castillo stole second in the first inning Monday, Lo Duca has thrown out the last six runners attempting to steal, including Aramis Ramirez to complete a double play in the sixth inning Friday, the Marlins’ Juan Pierre in the 10th inning Wednesday and Derrek Lee in the 12th inning Tuesday.

Lo Duca, who has drawn high praise from Tracy for his handling of baseball’s best pitching staff, has thrown out 32 of 95 runners for a .337 percentage.

“When you can throw out a runner, you’re killing a rally, because you can go from a guy on second with no outs to no one on,” Lo Duca said. “I struggled early in the season and was real upset about it, but I feel great right now.”

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Pitcher Andy Ashby, sidelined by a severe upper respiratory problem, was too sick to fly from Miami to Chicago on Thursday but was scheduled to make the trip Friday.

With the right-hander having not pitched since Aug. 8 and not scheduled to pitch against the Montreal Expos Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, the Dodgers probably will put him on the 15-day disabled list so they can use his roster spot to activate first baseman Fred McGriff or add another position player or pitcher.

Kevin Brown, who beat the Marlins on three days’ rest Thursday, will start Tuesday night’s series opener against Montreal on regular rest. Wilson Alvarez will pitch Wednesday and Odalis Perez will pitch Thursday.

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The Cubs completed their July 22 deal in which they obtained center fielder Lofton and third baseman Ramirez from Pittsburgh by sending to the Pirates infielder Bobby Hill, who before this season was considered the franchise’s second baseman of the future.... Since returning from the right shoulder injury suffered in a July 11 collision with Atlanta’s Marcus Giles, Cub pitcher Mark Prior is 3-0 with an 0.75 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 24 innings.