Kids help Penny win it

Martin be nimble, Kemp be quick. The two young Dodgers might have jumped over Candlestick if the San Francisco Giants still played at their old park.

Instead, the largest regular-season crowd ever at AT&T; Park watched in frustration as the flexible arms and legs of Russell Martin and Matt Kemp were the difference in the Dodgers’ 2-1 victory Friday night.

Martin, a 24-year-old catcher, threw out runners trying to steal second in the first two innings, prevented a run by blocking the plate with his outstretched left leg in the fifth and came out of his crouch to field a bunt and throw out Dave Roberts in the eighth.

Kemp, a 22-year-old outfielder, gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the fifth by making up for a baserunning blunder and twisting around the tag of catcher Bengie Molina to score. He was caught too far off third on a ground ball to third baseman Pedro Feliz, but his agility enabled him to avoid the tag and touch the plate with his hand.

“He kind of made up for that all by himself,” Manager Grady Little said.

The Dodgers extended the advantage in the sixth on a double by Nomar Garciaparra and a single by Jeff Kent, and Brad Penny appeared on his way to a pitch-efficient shutout when outfielders Juan Pierre and Luis Gonzalez proved neither nimble nor quick in the eighth.

Pinch-hitter Rich Aurilia led off the inning by lifting a high fly to left-center. Pierre ran after the ball tentatively, couldn’t get to it, and Aurilia had a double. Left-hander Joe Beimel replaced Penny and Martin made the play on Roberts’ bunt.

Omar Vizquel grounded out to shortstop Ramon Martinez, scoring Aurilia, and when Beimel got Barry Bonds to lift a fly to left field, it appeared the inning was over.

But Gonzalez had a long way to run because he was shifted toward center field. He got to the ball but dropped it, then slipped trying to recover, allowing the 42-year-old Bonds to trot to second base. After an intentional walk to Ray Durham, Beimel struck out Ryan Klesko, and Takashi Saito survived two hits in the ninth for his second save.

Penny’s curve and split-finger changeup were outstanding, but he went as long as he did despite giving up 10 hits primarily because of outstanding defense, throwing only 85 pitches.

“I kept my pitch count down by mixing up my pitches,” he said. “And there were some good plays behind me.”

The defense shined brightest in the fifth after a leadoff single by Feliz was followed by a double to left by Randy Winn. The scouting report on Dodgers outfielders is to run on them at every opportunity, and Feliz tried to score even though there were no outs.

Martinez took Gonzalez’s throw in short left field and fired to Martin, who extended his left leg to prevent Feliz from reaching the plate, caught the throw and made the tag.

“It’s what I thought of at the moment,” Martin said. “The key is to wait until the last second before putting my leg there. The runner doesn’t know what to do.”

Martinez made two fine plays in the inning too.

He dived to stop a single by Roberts with two out, prohibiting Winn from scoring from second, and backhanded Vizquel’s ground ball and forced Roberts at second on a close play to end the inning.

Said Little: “Those are the kind of plays you have to make to win one-run games.”

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steve.henson@latimes.com