Martin turns up the power

Matt Kemp was on second base and the Dodgers needed a hit.

Russell Martin gave them a home run.

The sixth-inning blast was Martin’s second in a 6-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium that halted a four-game losing streak and prevented the home team’s record from falling to .500.

From a psychological standpoint, the homer did much more. Until it sailed over the outstretched glove of Astros center fielder Jason Lane, the Dodgers had collected a hit with a runner in scoring position only five times this month.

An inning later, the Dodgers did it twice more.

“Stuff is contagious when you get in a situation like we’re in,” Manager Grady Little said.

That is when a team had lost 13 of 16 games. When a team had gone five for 88 on the month with runners in scoring position.

From the dugout to the bullpen, the Dodgers seemed to get a lift from Martin’s second long ball, which marked the first multi-home run game of the All-Star catcher’s career.

Scott Proctor, Jonathan Broxton and Takashi Saito combined to pitch three scoreless innings to preserve the win for Brad Penny, who wasn’t at his best. Penny gave up three runs in six innings, but managed to improve his record to 14-3.

And with two out in the seventh, Rafael Furcal doubled to left-center and scored on a single by Juan Pierre. Pierre stole second and came home on a double by Kemp to increase the Dodgers’ lead to 6-3.

Martin, who hit his first home run in the second inning to tie the score at 1-1, said he sensed the floodgates were about to open.

“It seemed like nobody was pressing today,” he said. “We were having good at-bats from the get-go. From the top to bottom, everyone seemed to have the right approach.”

The key, the Dodgers said, would be to maintain that form tonight in the final game of the four-game series with the Astros.

“We aren’t in a situation where we can start celebrating because we won one game,” said Saito, who saved his 30th game. “We need to ride this momentum. If not, we’ll never see the light at the end.”

Penny had to withstand a multitude of assaults from the Astros to put Martin in position to give the Dodgers a 4-3 edge in the sixth.

Penny gave up runs in the second, third and fourth innings, each of which he started by yielding a hit.

“He didn’t have his best command today,” Little said. “But he battled and minimized the damage in each inning.”

Penny had runners on the corners in the fifth, but left them stranded by forcing Ty Wigginton to fly out to center. The Astros had men on second and third in the sixth, but Penny came through again, this time striking out Chris Burke to end the inning.

“It all starts on the mound,” Little said. “It lifts the entire ballclub.”

Martin’s multi-home run game was the first by a Dodgers catcher in almost four years, the last being one by David Ross on Sept. 14, 2003 against the San Diego Padres.

Jonathan Broxton, who pitched the eighth inning, extended his streak of appearances without giving up a home run to 91 games. That equals the Los Angeles Dodgers record set by Paul Quantrill from 2002-03.

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com