Dodgers breathe a little easier

The breathing may be faint, the pulse weak. But the Dodgers’ playoff hopes aren’t dead.

And if they string together a few more games like the one they played Thursday, when they rode seven shutout innings from Derek Lowe and a career-high three doubles from Jeff Kent to a 6-2 win over the Houston Astros, the Dodgers may soon be back in the pink of good health.

They’ll need some help, though. Although the win was the Dodgers’ second in a row, it follows a spell in which they lost 15 of 19, dropping from first to fourth in the National League West. And Thursday’s win did them little good in the division race since Arizona also won, keeping the Dodgers 6 1/2 games back. But L.A. did gain on two of the four teams ahead of it in the wild-card race, in which it trails San Diego by 3 1/2 games.

“We’ve got [41] games left to go. And we all know the hole we put ourselves in,” said Lowe, who hadn’t won since June 22, a span of eight starts and five decisions. “Hopefully the last two days is a start in the right direction. It’s going to be a tough task. [But] everyone in here believes we have a team that’s up for it.”

But that’s a turnaround that won’t happen unless Lowe keeps pitching the way he did Thursday.

“It was outstanding,” Dodgers Manager Grady Little said of Lowe’s performance. “The ball had a lot of action. He had good command. It was good to get that one behind him. I think he’ll get rolling [now].”

The same might be said of Kent, who started the night mired in a one-for-29 slump. But he ended that in the first inning, following a bunt hit by Juan Pierre and a hit-and-run single by Matt Kemp with a two-run double to center.

After taking extra batting practice Thursday afternoon, Rafael Furcal also broke out of a slump that saw him begin the night hitting .204 in August. He was two for four, scored twice and drove in two runs.

All that offense was a rare treat for Lowe (9-11), who received only 26 runs of support in his 11 losses. This time he didn’t need the help, though. Relying on good control and a great sinker, he faced the minimum number of hitters through 6 2/3 innings, giving up four hits but watching all four baseunners get erased on a season-high four double plays by the Dodgers’ infield -- including one featuring an outstanding turn by Kent and another on which Furcal won a footrace to the bag with a would-be basestealer, then fired to first for the second out.

Lowe, who needed only 84 pitches to get through his seven innings, allowed only one fly ball to reach an outfielder, and that came from Mark Loretta, the second batter of the game. And no Astro got as far as second base against him.

Two of the five hits Lowe gave up were to Craig Biggio, making his final stop at Dodger Stadium on his way to the Hall of Fame. Biggio has 3,031 hits, 22nd on the all-time list.

The Dodgers then topped things off by calling in Roberto Hernandez, who faced five batters in the ninth in his 1,000th big-league appearance. Only 11 men in history have pitched in more major league games.

“I never thought I’d be around for 1,000 games,” said Hernandez, who made his debut with the Chicago White Sox in 1991 when James Loney, the Dodgers’ first baseman and the man with the locker next to his, was in the first grade. “It’s just something that reminds you how long your career [has been], the long road, the ups and downs.

“But I don’t play the game for stuff like that. I play to win. I would trade every game I pitched for a championship.”

kevin.baxter@latimes.com