Victory a No. 1 Hit for Ishii

The Dodgers put the finishing touches on a three-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night in front of 27,899 at Dodger Stadium without five regulars on the field and with their most enigmatic pitcher on the mound, though it seemed as if they could have accomplished the feat fielding a lineup of old-timers.

Kazuhisa Ishii threw the first one-hit shutout of his career, and the Dodgers clubbed three home runs during an 11-0 shellacking that gave the sagging Diamondbacks their 16th loss in 19 games.

Ishii’s second shutout of the season, a one-walk masterpiece in which he struck out five and allowed only one runner to reach third base, helped the Dodgers win their fifth consecutive game and move into a first-place tie with San Diego in the National League West.

It was the Dodgers’ first complete-game one-hitter since Odalis Perez stopped the Colorado Rockies on June 25, 2002.

Buoyed by a six-run first inning in which his teammates batted around against knuckleballer Steve Sparks, Ishii retired the first 12 batters and needed 103 pitches in his most dominating performance since throwing a no-hitter in September 1997 in Japan.

“That was quite a bounce-back performance from Kazuhisa,” said Dodger Manager Jim Tracy, referring to the fact that Ishii was bombed for seven runs in three innings against the Angels on Friday in his shortest outing of the season.

“That was as good a game as he’s pitched since he’s been here.”

Alex Cora, Jayson Werth and Jason Grabowski homered for the Dodgers, who have won seven of nine games against the lifeless Diamondbacks and must relish the opportunity to play them 10 more times after the All-Star break.

Ishii (10-4) retired the Diamondbacks in order in every inning except the fifth, when Luis Gonzalez drew a leadoff walk on a 3-and-1 count to become the first Arizona baserunner and Shea Hillenbrand singled to left on Ishii’s next pitch.

The runners moved up to second and third with two out on a wild pitch but were stranded when Juan Brito grounded out.

Chad Tracy, who had ended Eric Gagne’s major league-record consecutive saves streak at 84 with a ninth-inning single Tuesday, smacked an eighth-inning fly ball to deep right-center field before Werth cradled the ball in his glove on the warning track.

Tim Olson, who entered as a defensive replacement at third base in the eighth inning for the Diamondbacks, led off the top of the ninth with a drive to deep left-center that Grabowski chased down after a long run.

Ishii then struck out Quinton McCracken and got Steve Finley to ground out to second base to end the game. The pitcher was greeted with a standing ovation by fans as he walked to the dugout.

Ishii, a typically wild left-hander who had averaged more than three walks a game before Wednesday, has walked two or fewer in five of his last six starts.

“He went out there tonight and commanded the strike zone,” Tracy said.

The Dodgers’ first-inning outburst, in which all runs scored with two out, was highlighted by Cora’s three-run homer and Grabowski’s two-run single.

Cora has hit six homers in 82 games, one more than he had hit in a season before this year.

“To come out with an offensive explosion like that was big for our team and big for our bullpen,” center fielder Dave Roberts said.

Said Ishii through an interpreter: “At that point, I just wanted to throw as long as I could to give the relievers some rest. The main thing was trying to be aggressive. I didn’t care about how many hits I gave up, I just wanted to give our pitching staff some rest.”

Werth added a two-run homer in the fifth and Grabowski followed by hitting a full-count solo shot off reliever Stephen Randolph.

The Dodgers started the game short-handed, with outfielders Juan Encarnacion and Milton Bradley sidelined because of injuries, and they dipped deeper into their bench in the sixth after taking a 10-run lead. Their lineup from the seventh inning onward consisted of reserves Olmedo Saenz at third base, Jose Hernandez at shortstop and David Ross at catcher.

Third baseman Adrian Beltre had to leave the game after straining his right thigh muscle while swinging on the last pitch of his fifth-inning at-bat, a fly ball to left field. He is listed as day to day.