Mound shakes, but Dodgers win

It wasn’t exactly the bold step the Dodgers envisioned. They wobbled and shuddered and shivered to their first victory, finally securing it when an infielder playing the outfield squeezed a fly ball with the tying run in scoring position -- again.

The opponents weren’t the bungling Brewers who made Milwaukee forgotten for so long. They were potent and persistent, forcing the Dodgers to sweat out a 5-4 victory on Wednesday night in front of 23,649 bundled souls at the world’s largest ice box, also known as Miller Park.

The domed stadium kept out the snow that swirled outside, but it has no central heating.

Jason Schmidt’s fastball didn’t help raise the temperature, hitting 90 mph only on rare occasions, but in his first Dodgers start, the right-hander changed speeds, brushed the corners and pitched his way out of a self-inflicted jam in the fifth inning to earn the victory.

Schmidt walked the bases loaded with two out and his pitch count hiking upward of 90, the first free pass going to Brewers pitcher Jeff Suppan. Left-hander Joe Beimel was warming up in the bullpen as left-handed slugger Prince Fielder walked to the plate, but Schmidt rewarded Manager Grady Little’s patience by getting Fielder to pop out, leaving the Dodgers ahead, 2-1.

“Like anybody on a new team, you wanted to get started on a positive note,” Schmidt said. “The team needed a win. I would have loved to go seven or eight innings, but that didn’t happen.”

It was left to the bullpen, which barely survived. Beimel and Jonathan Broxton each pitched scoreless innings, but after the Dodgers scored three in the eighth thanks to the wildness of Brewers reliever Carlos Villanueva, Rudy Seanez and Takashi Saito nearly gave it back.

A year ago, perhaps the Brewers would have folded. But this is an improved lineup, and Johnny Estrada, Geoff Jenkins and Kevin Mench hit consecutive singles against Seanez to load the bases with one out in the eighth.

Little went early to his closer, Saito, and Craig Counsell doubled down the right-field line to score two runs. Saito got pinch-hitter Gabe Gross to pop out and Rickie Weeks to line out to center, leaving the tying runs on base.

The ninth was no easier. J.J. Hardy led off with a home run and Fielder doubled. But Saito reverted to the pitcher who notched 24 saves last season, retiring the next three hitters, the last on a slicing fly ball to left fielder Wilson Valdez, an infielder by trade who was in the game because of a series of double switches and substitutions.

“You saw it, my ball was up a little,” Saito said through an interpreter. “I thought I was going to feel sharp, but I didn’t anticipate coming in with the bases loaded in the eighth.”

Neither did Brewers reliever Elmer Dessens, a Dodger until two weeks ago when he was traded for outfielder Brady Clark. Villanueva had walked Jeff Kent, Luis Gonzalez and Wilson Betemit to begin the inning, and Dessens was summoned to face pinch-hitter Olmedo Saenz.

Saenz guessed that Dessens would throw him a slider and drilled it for a two-run double. One out later, Matt Kemp hit a sacrifice fly and the Dodgers led, 5-1.

It proved to be enough. Barely.

“It’s never easy,” Little said. “What happened out there tonight really proved it.”

steve.henson@latimes.com