Dodgers end trip with a 10-4 win

Fifty-four pitches in, Randy Wolf had retired three batters, given up a run and the bases were loaded with none out in the second inning.

He wasn’t exactly following the edict laid down by Manager Grady Little during spring training: Starters must pitch into the seventh inning.

“If you do, we’ll figure out the rest,” Little told the pitchers.

So much for the best-laid plans.

“I figured I’d be lucky to last four,” Wolf said of his thoughts during the dire second-inning situation.

But he struck out Barry Zito and got Omar Vizquel to bounce into a double play, beginning a stretch in which he retired 14 of 15 batters and got to, if not into, the seventh, a neat trick after laboring through a 38-pitch first inning.

The rest of the Dodgers took it from there, shelling Zito in a 10-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday at AT&T; Park that completed a sweep and sent the Dodgers into their home opener today with the momentum of four victories in a row after beginning the season with two losses.

All without shortstop and leadoff hitter Rafael Furcal, who was expected to sit out his seventh game because of a sprained ankle.

Wilson Valdez, Furcal’s stand-in at shortstop, had three hits for the second game in a row, including a two-run triple that extended the lead to 5-1 in the sixth. The combination of Valdez and Ramon Martinez -- who drove in two runs and made two splendid backhand plays in his first game at third base -- has made Furcal’s absence barely noticeable.

“We aren’t going to sit here and say we don’t miss Raffy, because we do,” Little said. “But these guys are playing really well.”

Little likes to ride a hot hand, so Valdez will be back at shortstop and Martinez at third today against Colorado Rockies left-hander Jeff Francis.

“I’ve been accused of repeating things that are working and changing things that aren’t,” Little said.

Another productive Dodger, rookie right fielder Matt Kemp, will start in right field after getting three hits Sunday to hike his average to .462.

And when Furcal does return, presumably at mid-week?

“It will be like making a trade and getting a jump-starter at the top of the order,” left fielder Luis Gonzalez said. “It’s a good sign when you win four in a row and your shortstop hasn’t played yet.”

Gonzalez did some jump-starting of his own, hitting a home run to lead off the fourth and put the Dodgers ahead, 2-1, then belting a three-run homer in the seventh to turn it into a romp.

Gonzalez has more home runs -- seven -- at AT&T; Park than any other non-Giant, and he passed Bobby Bonds for 87th on the all-time homer list.

Bobby’s son, Barry, the big guy with 735 homers, singled off the right-field wall to drive in the Giants first run, but otherwise did nothing. Wolf came in having struck out Bonds eight times in 14 at-bats, and got him looking in the third.

It was the last of Wolf’s three strikeouts, which was part of his plan.

“I started taking a little off my pitches, and they put the ball in play instead of fouling it off,” Wolf said. “I had to adjust to cut down on my pitch count.”

Today he’ll get to enjoy the home opener with his first Dodgers victory under his belt, having outpitched the celebrated Zito, a fellow left-hander who signed for $118 million more than the $8 million Wolf took to return to his hometown team.

“It will be weird,” said Wolf, who spent the first eight years of his career with the Philadelphia Phillies.

“I’ll get on a plane and go home, sleep in my own bed and drive to the park. It will feel good.”

steve.henson@latimes.com