Rookie Starts Off Fast for Dodgers

A ringing phone roused Russell Martin in his Salt Lake City hotel room early Friday morning. He had a pretty good idea of who was on the line.

The highly touted major league prospect had been notified the night before by Jerry Royster, his manager at triple-A Las Vegas, that he probably would be hearing from Dodger General Manager Ned Colletti if the team needed a replacement for injured catcher Dioner Navarro. So when the call came, stirring him from his slumber, Martin figured it was good news. He was right.

“Definitely the best wake-up call I’ve ever gotten,” Martin said.

About 12 hours later, after boarding a flight to Los Angeles, Martin provided a pleasant jolt of his own in his major league debut, collecting two hits and driving in two runs to help the Dodgers defeat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3, at Dodger Stadium and end a five-game losing streak.

After the Dodgers squandered a three-run lead in the seventh and eighth innings, Nomar Garciaparra drove in Rafael Furcal from second base with the winning run in the ninth when Garciaparra rolled a single over first base.

“If you find the hole, that’s baseball,” said Garciaparra, who emerged from the dugout after the game wearing a makeshift Dodger poncho in honor of Cinco de Mayo. “It was a changeup and I got lucky. I got it off the end of the bat.”

Derek Lowe turned in a fine performance for most of his 7 1/3 innings, giving up seven hits and two runs in the longest start by a Dodger this season. Lowe was pulled in the eighth, after Carlos Lee blasted his 102nd pitch over the left-field wall for a solo homer that pulled the Brewers to within 3-2.

The Dodger bullpen again failed to hold a lead, with Tim Hamulack surrendering back-to-back singles before Danys Baez came on and hit Damian Miller with a pitch. Baez then uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Prince Fielder to score the tying run.

But Jason Repko prevented the go-ahead run from scoring when he caught Brady Clark’s popup in shallow center field and made a strong throw home to Martin, who withstood a collision with Corey Koskie, attempting to tag up from third base, for the final out of the inning.

“He made a great tag and held his ground,” Repko said of Martin, whose first major league hit had given the Dodgers a three-run cushion in the fourth. After Repko and Ramon Martinez hit back-to-back singles with one out, Martin drove in both baserunners with a double down the right-field line.

Swinging Furcal’s bat because his were still in Las Vegas, Martin added a single up the middle in the sixth and finished two for four.

“It feels great, man,” Martin said. “I don’t know how to say it any other way.”

Furcal, back in his usual leadoff spot after Kenny Lofton had topped the batting order the three previous games, stranded Martin in scoring position in the fourth and sixth innings. But he came through in the ninth, leading off with an infield single, moving to second on Jose Cruz. Jr.’s bunt and coming home on Garciaparra’s second hit of the game.

“It just feels so good to win a game after five days of losing,” Repko said.

The Dodgers hope Navarro, who suffered a bone bruise on his right wrist Thursday, can return immediately after his stint on the 15-day disabled list ends, but Manager Grady Little left the door open for Martin to remain with the team if his bat stays hot.

“Russell’s getting a chance to come up here and see what he can do,” Little said. “He had about as good a game as you can in your first day in the bigs.”