Dodgers Limit Drama in Win

The Dodgers kept the drama between the foul lines for a change Wednesday night, with Edwin Jackson and Cesar Izturis providing the crowd-pleasing theatrics during a 5-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in front of 27,871 at Dodger Stadium.

Jackson pitched five solid innings in his season debut and Izturis executed a suicide squeeze to perfection as the Dodgers won a second consecutive series to seize some momentum heading into a nine-game trip.

Jackson is expected to return to triple-A Las Vegas after a fill-in start in which he gave up three hits and one run in five innings, throwing 54 of his 96 pitches for strikes. The 20-year-old right-hander struck out three and walked three.

Milwaukee’s Scott Podsednik led off with a first-inning solo home run for the second consecutive game, but the Dodgers rallied with enough runs to end a streak of six consecutive games they had lost when the opposition scored in the first inning.

Paul Lo Duca hit a solo homer and drove in three runs and Milton Bradley kept his temper in check a night after throwing a tantrum following a sixth-inning ejection as the Dodgers remained tied with San Diego for first place in the National League West. Adrian Beltre also contributed with a spectacular defensive play in the seventh in which he barehanded a slow roller off the bat of Gary Bennett and fired a throw to first for the out.

Dodger reliever Guillermo Mota wobbled a bit in the eighth, allowing the Brewers to put runners on first and third with two out, before Eric Gagne retired Geoff Jenkins on a fly ball to left field on his first pitch. Gagne also pitched the ninth, allowing a run on pinch-hitter Brooks Kieschnick’s broken-bat single to left, to record his 13th save and major-league record 76th in a row dating to 2002.

Jackson was less than spectacular but wriggled his way out of the only jam he faced and helped his own cause by picking Podsednik off second base in the third. Jackson (1-0) issued consecutive walks to open the second but induced a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Bennett and struck out Ben Hendrickson on a full count to escape unscathed.

“He was struggling a little bit,” Lo Duca said of Jackson. “I went out to the mound and he told me he was just too fired up and didn’t know where the ball was going. [But] he kept us in the ballgame.”

The Brewers also threatened in the fourth when Keith Ginter tripled off the wall in right-center with two out, but Izturis ranged deep in the hole between shortstop and third base to field Bennett’s grounder and threw him out at first to end the inning.

“I got behind a couple of times tonight and made some pitches and had excellent defensive plays behind me,” said Jackson, who is 3-1 in five appearances with the Dodgers dating to last season. “That’s one of the good things about playing with this team -- you know you can make mistakes on pitches and the defense is going to be behind you 100%.”

The Dodgers’ offensive highlight came in the fifth, after pinch-hitter Jason Grabowski led off with a double down the right-field line and went to third when right fielder Ben Grieve bobbled the ball. Izturis came to the plate one out later and placed a bunt several feet in front of home plate that barely reached the infield grass but allowed Grabowski to race home without a play.

“The main thing there is just to get it down and get it fair,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said. “He laid down a good bunt and Grabowski got a terrific jump from third base so that even if the ball is bunted toward the middle of the field, he is going to score.”