Perez and Friends Pitch In for Dodgers

With a day off looming, Dodger Manager Jim Tracy dug as deep into his depleted bullpen as his lanky arms could reach to ensure a two-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants.

The names he pulled out are hardly household, but they turned in a tidy job, preserving a 4-1 victory Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

Odalis Perez (2-0) gave up one run and four hits in 6 1/3 innings for his second victory over the Giants this season, then gave way to a parade of ordinary people.

Say hello to Duaner Sanchez, Kelly Wunsch, Steve Schmoll and Yhency Brazoban.

All they did was hold the Giants scoreless the rest of the way. In that respect it was no different than the home opener Tuesday when the similarly anonymous Buddy Carlyle, D.J. Houlton and Giovanni Carrara each tossed two scoreless innings in relief.

That’s a total of 8 2/3 spotless innings without a single pitch from a certain goggle-wearing dominant closer.

Eric Gagne, what do you think of the job turned in by the bullpen while you are on the disabled list because of a sprained elbow?

“One word. Good,” he said.

That about sums up the Dodgers (6-2) after eight games. They’ve defeated the Giants in four of five, and after a respite today, tackle another West Division rival, the San Diego Padres, for the first time.

In what clearly was a prudent decision, the Dodgers decided to break spring training with 12 pitchers rather than 11. They’ve used them all, including the seven relievers the last two days.

“It has afforded us additional pitching options,” Tracy said.

Perez sat out much of the spring because of tendinitis and is still building his pitch count. He reached 79, including 57 strikes, most of them missing Giant bats.

“In, out, curveball, changeup, I had good command,” Perez said.

Last season, Perez led the major leagues with 18 no-decisions, primarily because of a lack of run support. So the early four Dodger runs must have seemed like 40.

“This year we are going to score a lot of runs,” he said, hopefully. “This year will be different.”

Doubters are in abundance, but the early returns are favorable. The Dodgers began the game leading the National League in runs. This time the damage came early.

Hee-Seop Choi led off the third inning with a line-drive home run into the right-field corner, the ball landing in the first row. J.D. Drew, the next batter, launched a ball into the seats barely foul before walking, setting the table for Jeff Kent’s second home run this season.

Kent, batting .419, is one of the league’s hottest hitters, but this was the first sign that Choi might get untracked. He began the game one for 15 and hit a single in addition to the home run in four at-bats.

Choi had a torrid April last season with the Florida Marlins, batting .295 with nine home runs and 18 runs batted in. But despite spending a lot of time with batting coach Tim Wallach during the spring, Choi looked lost at the plate last week.

Consecutive doubles to right field by Ricky Ledee and Paul Bako in the fourth extended the lead to 4-0. The Dodgers had chances to put the game away in the fifth and seventh innings, but runners were stranded on second and third both times.

No matter. The bullpen wasn’t giving in.

Sanchez came on with runners on second and third with one out in the sixth. Marquis Grissom struck out but reached base on a wild pitch that allowed Lance Niekro to score the lone Giant run, and Mike Matheny flied out. Wunsch came on to retire Michael Tucker.

Schmoll gave up a harmless single in the eighth inning and Brazoban retired the side in the ninth for his second save.

“When the season started we weren’t sure of our roles without Eric,” Sanchez said. “Now everything is getting clear. We’re all gaining the confidence that we can do the job.”