Ishii Has Rough Time in Dodgers’ Victory

Concern has replaced the Dodgers’ excitement about Kazuhisa Ishii, whose fast slide continued Tuesday night in a 5-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in front of 16,129 at Miller Park.

Staked to an early four-run lead and only one out from qualifying for a win, Ishii was removed with a 4-2 lead but with two on and two out.

“We did everything we could to try to get Kaz through,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “But seeing what we were seeing, and the fact that he had been in trouble, we had to do what we had to do to win the ballgame for the team.”

With Dodgers struggling and in need of positive reinforcement, Tracy yanked Ishii early in the left-hander’s third consecutive shaky start. Tracy decided he couldn’t risk letting Ishii face Keith Ginter with one run already in and runners on first and second. Ginter had doubled in his first two at-bats.

Jose Lima (3-1) walked Ginter to load the bases, but second baseman Alex Cora made a diving stop on Gary Bennett’s grounder up the middle and threw to first for the final out.

The Dodgers added an insurance run in the ninth on Cesar Izturis’ second run-scoring single, and then closer Eric Gagne shook off the rust in his first save opportunity since May 8.

Gagne pitched a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts to earn his 11th save of the season and record 74th in a row. The Dodgers remained tied atop the National League West with San Diego despite winning for only the second time in 11 games, improving to 2-5 on the trip.

There was good news for the Dodgers, but they acknowledged Ishii’s continuing slide is becoming a big problem.

“I thought we figured it out a little bit in his last start when he threw the ball well at times, then tonight he struggled again, and there’s really nothing to point to that explains it,” catcher Paul Lo Duca said. “The thing that he’s struggling with is his breaking ball, which is usually his bread and butter.

“It’s going to be tough because his pitch count is really getting up there. He’s putting himself in tough positions. He seems to wiggle out of them, but he needs to get to the point where he throws strikes consistently. Hopefully this stops soon, because I don’t know if it can continue for the rest of the year.”

Ishii had walked 12 in 10 1/3 innings while losing his previous two starts, and command was the problem again Tuesday. He walked six, one intentionally, while throwing only 56 strikes in 100 pitches.

But yanked with only one out to go in the fifth and a two-run lead?

Ishii said Tracy made the right decision.

“I have to work to become a pitcher he can rely on,” Ishii said through an interpreter. “I need to keep improving so I can earn his trust.”

It was an easy call, Tracy said.

“He was at 100 pitches in 4 2/3 innings,” said Tracy, who affirmed that Ishii’s spot in the rotation is safe for now.

“It’s not something that I like to do. But with the fact of the at-bats that Keith Ginter had had up to that point, and the way things have been going for us offensively, we weren’t going to run the risk of taking another shot at it and falling behind in this game.”

Things looked good for Ishii and the Dodgers early as they took a 4-0 lead in a four-run third against Brewer starter Victor Santos (2-1).

Ishii walked the bases loaded in the third after being staked to the big lead in the top of the inning. He managed to escape cheaply, giving up only one run, on Lyle Overbay’s sacrifice fly as the Brewers became impatient at the plate.

However, Tracy’s patience had worn thin.

“As pitchers, naturally we would like to throw longer in games,” Ishii said. “I have to improve so that won’t happen again.”