Gagne Suffers a Setback, So Do Dodgers

For a few disconcerting minutes Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers might have wondered who was going to get them through the first inning, much less the ninth.

Already burdened with the knowledge that Eric Gagne was unavailable after the closer experienced some discomfort in his pitching elbow the previous night, the Dodgers watched as Odalis Perez surrendered hit after hit in the first inning of his first start since May 2.

In an audition to regain his spot in the rotation, the left-hander survived a rocky first inning but was gone before the end of the fourth in the Dodgers’ 9-7 loss to the New York Mets.

The news on Gagne also was a blow to the Dodgers. An MRI exam on the reliever’s pitching elbow revealed some inflammation around the ulnar nerve, but not structural damage, and he will be sidelined for at least a couple of days.

“If I’m not ready to pitch every day, I look at it as a setback,” said Gagne, who retired the Mets in order Tuesday during his second appearance of the season. “It’s just a matter of making sure that it’s healthy for a long time and not just one or two or three outings.”

Perez’s shaky start -- he gave up 11 hits, seven runs and one walk in 3 2/3 innings -- rendered Rafael Furcal’s two home runs and four runs batted in practically meaningless. Furcal also put a charge into an eighth-inning pitch that fell into center fielder Carlos Beltran’s glove on the warning track.

Manager Grady Little replaced Perez in the fourth inning with Jae Seo, the pitcher whose spot in the rotation Perez claimed. But Seo also struggled, giving up Lastings Milledge’s two-run homer in the seventh that gave the Mets a three-run lead.

Little said Perez would make his next scheduled start, June 16 at Oakland. Asked whether he deserved to stay in the rotation, Perez said, “Of course. They scored seven runs off me [but] I know you saw how many broken-bat bloopers they hit off me. When you go out there and that happens, what can you do?”

Things quickly unraveled for Perez in the first inning after he retired the first two batters. He surrendered five consecutive hits, including a two-run single by Julio Franco, a run-scoring double by Jose Valentin and a run-scoring triple by Milledge.

Furcal got the Dodgers on the board in the bottom of the inning when he hit the team’s first leadoff homer this season, but Perez gave the run back after walking Tom Glavine to lead off the second. The pitcher eventually scored on Beltran’s bloop single to right-center field to give New York a 5-1 lead.

Glavine, pitching on three days’ rest because the Mets were playing their sixth game in five days, couldn’t cash in on the run support. After Russell Martin drove in a run with a single to left field in the second, Furcal hit a three-run homer to left-center field to tie the score, 5-5.

Perez retired the Mets in order in the third inning and recorded the first two outs in the fourth before four consecutive singles led to two runs and prompted Little to summon Seo. The right-hander escaped the two-on, two-out mess he inherited by striking out Franco on an 86-mph fastball.

Perez and Seo agreed that Little shouldn’t make any changes based on one start.

“One game doesn’t change anything,” Seo said through an interpreter. “I’ll try to work on my problems in the bullpen and he’ll work on his pitching. I’m not going to make any judgments after one game.”

Said Perez: “There isn’t any need for me to go back to the bullpen. I don’t think there’s a mechanical problem. I felt good and threw the ball the way I was supposed to throw it.”

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Injury timeline

Developments with Dodgers pitcher Eric Gagne since 2005:

April 1-May 14, 2005: Begins season on disabled list because of a sprained right elbow.

* May 15-June 12, 2005: Pitches in nine games, going 1-0 with a 2.70 earned-run average and eight saves.

* June 13, 2005: Put back on disabled list because of sore elbow.

* June 24, 2005: Undergoes season-ending surgery to repair ulnar collateral ligament in right elbow.

* April 6, 2006: After starting season with team but not pitching, Gagne is put on disabled list again because of a nerve problem in his right arm.

* April 7, 2006: Has an operation to remove a nerve in his right forearm.

* May 30, 2006: Taken off disabled list.

* June 6, 2006: Says elbow feels stiff after pitching scoreless inning against the New York Mets.

* June 7, 2006: An MRI exam reveals some swelling around the ulnar nerve but no structural damage.