Ishii Stays in Control in Desert

The Dodgers have only eight games remaining against the lowly Arizona Diamondbacks, and Kazuhisa Ishii will simply have to deal with it.

Ishii had more fun against the team with the major leagues’ worst record Friday night in a 6-2 victory before 29,255 at Bank One Ballpark.

The wild left-hander continued to resemble a Cy Young Award contender when facing Arizona, working six strong innings to lead the Dodgers to their 10th victory in 11 games.

Ishii improved to 7-1 with a 1.59 earned-run average in 11 career starts against the Diamondbacks as the Dodgers won for the second time in as many games in this series. Shawn Green also had another positive experience, collecting three hits and driving in a run a night after hitting a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning of a 4-3 victory.

The Dodgers turned three double plays, did the little things well and were aggressive, producing two runs on squeeze bunts by Alex Cora and another on a Cesar Izturis grounder.

The combination helped the Dodgers (50-38) improve to 12 games above .500 for the first time since starting 22-10.

The Dodgers remained in first place in the National League West and are feeling very good these days.

“We’re happy where we’re at,” Green said. “Right now we’re in first place with a little less than half a season to go.

“There’s a ton more games, and we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, but it’s a good place to be right now.”

Ishii (11-4) and the Dodgers are seemingly always in a good place when facing Arizona (31-60). The Dodgers improved to 9-2 against the Diamondbacks, who dropped 20 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the division.

Ishii again provided a solid foundation in an efficient 76-pitch, 46-strike outing. He gave up four hits and two earned runs with two strikeouts and only two walks.

Ishii’s performance wasn’t close to the one-hitter he tossed July 7 in an 11-0 victory over Arizona, but Manager Jim Tracy said it was good enough.

“He did a very effective job tonight,” Tracy said. “But I would say that, command-wise, he wasn’t quite as sharp as I’ve seen him in a few of his previous starts.”

However, Arizona still couldn’t figure out Ishii.

“A lot of that has to do with his ability to control their left-handed hitting,” Tracy said. “I firmly believe that.

“Not taking anything away from their right-handed bats, but some of their better left-handed hitters are keys to their offense. He gets them out.”

The Dodgers got aggressive in the third.

Cora led off with a single and advanced to third as Dave Roberts singled to center with one out on a hit-and-run. Cora raced to the plate with the team’s first run, cutting Arizona’s lead to 2-1, as Izturis grounded out to third.

Cora was on the other end as the Dodgers scored twice in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead. Milton Bradley, who scored three runs, tied the score at 2-2 on Jayson Werth’s sacrifice fly. Green raced in from third with the go-ahead run on Cora’s first squeeze bunt.

“The baserunning tonight was excellent,” Tracy said. “We did a lot of little things very well tonight and scratched runs here and there.”

The Diamondbacks took a 2-0 lead in the second as Ishii briefly experienced command problems.

Luis Gonzalez walked to start the inning, Ishii hit Shea Hillenbrand with a pitch and Alex Cintron reached on a bunt single to load the bases. Chad Tracy singled to drive in Gonzalez and the bases remained full.

Hillenbrand scored on Juan Brito’s sacrifice fly to center and Cintron was out stretching at third on a heads-up play by catcher Paul Lo Duca, who caught center fielder Bradley’s off-line throw and nailed Cintron.

“The couple of runs that they got early were simply the result of a walk to Gonzalez and a hit batsman with Hillenbrand,” Tracy said. “Beyond that there were a couple of fine defensive plays made behind him.”