Nomo Is Splendid Splitter

Even without the benefit of a 90-mph fastball, Hideo Nomo experienced a speedy turnaround Saturday night against the Colorado Rockies.

Dodger Manager Jim Tracy sent the suddenly soft-tossing right-hander back to the mound as promised after a hideous season debut, and Nomo responded with six mostly high-quality innings during the Dodgers’ 7-4 victory in front of 35,318 at Dodger Stadium.

Unfurling a fastball clocked mostly in the mid- to upper-80s, Nomo sliced through the Colorado lineup with the exception of a 41-pitch second inning in which he issued three walks, including one with the bases loaded. Nomo also yielded a line-drive solo homer to former Dodger Jeromy Burnitz in the sixth but struck out seven and issued no walks outside of the second inning.

“I saw better life with his fastball, and his [split-fingered fastball] was much more consistent and he had much more command of it today than he did in his first start against San Diego,” said Tracy, referring to an outing in which Nomo gave up seven runs in five innings.

Milton Bradley crushed a 448-foot solo home run to right in the first, his first homer as a Dodger, and Adrian Beltre added a solo shot in the sixth as the Dodgers won their fourth consecutive game to remain in sole possession of first place in the National League West.

The Dodger bullpen faltered a bit for the first time, with Jose Lima giving up two runs in the seventh, but Guillermo Mota struck out the side in the eighth and Eric Gagne pitched a shaky but scoreless ninth to record his first save. It was his 64th consecutive save dating to the 2002 season.

A four-run third off Colorado starter Denny Stark provided more than enough cushion for the Dodgers (4-1), who won their ninth consecutive game against the Rockies dating to last season

Dave Roberts led off the inning with a bunt single, took second on his major league-leading seventh stolen base and moved to third on Cesar Izturis’ single to shallow left. Bradley drove in Roberts with a single to left-center.

Shawn Green scored Izturis with a single to right, and after Paul Lo Duca popped to first, Bradley came home on Juan Encarnacion’s single to shallow center. Green scored the fourth run of the inning on Beltre’s sacrifice fly to deep center.

“We just put a number of good at-bats together and that’s something that had gotten away from us over the past couple of seasons,” Tracy said.

Lo Duca continued his batting tear with a double to left-center in the second and scored on Beltre’s single to right-center to put the Dodgers ahead, 2-1. After five games, Lo Duca is batting .550.

Nomo had struggled with his mechanics during his season debut, a lopsided loss to the Padres, and the Dodgers have expressed concerns about decreased velocity for a pitcher coming off shoulder surgery in the off-season.

“We’re not really interested in seeing him hit 90 [mph],” Tracy said. “We’re just interested in the quality of pitches and allowing him the opportunity to build up his stamina and strength.”

Nomo was effective through most of his 108-pitch outing Saturday, striking out Burnitz in the third with a 75-mph split-fingered fastball.

The Rockies scored their first run off Nomo on a walk to Aaron Miles in the second after loading the bases with consecutive walks and a flare to right that fell for a single.

But Nomo struck out Royce Clayton to avert further damage. He needed only 10 pitches to get through the third, 11 to get through the fourth and 12 to get through the fifth.

Nomo said he didn’t think his performance was much different from his first with the exception of throwing more split-fingered pitches.

“Today I was able to win because our defense helped me and we got those runs,” he said through an interpreter.

Nomo (1-1) has excelled against the Rockies in his career, going 9-2 with a 4.49 earned-run average and pitching the only no-hitter in Coors Field history on Sept. 17, 1996.

The Rockies played most of the game without center fielder Preston Wilson, who left in the third because of a sore left knee.

Catcher Charles Johnson, who entered the game with a National League-leading .600 batting average, didn’t start, because he has only a .130 lifetime average against Nomo with 15 strikeouts in 23 at-bats. He struck out against Mota as a pinch-hitter in the eighth.