Kuo’s effort gives Little comfort

Grady Little can be as sour as an unripe lemon when his Dodgers lose. But Saturday, despite the fact he had just watched Pittsburgh starter Ian Snell thoroughly frustrate his hitters in the Pirates’ 3-1 victory, Little allowed a smile to crease his face.

That’s because the Dodgers had just gotten an important, if far less spectacular, effort of their own from left-hander Hong-Chih Kuo. And that, combined with the news that former all-star Jason Schmidt will be returning to the rotation Tuesday in San Diego, was almost enough to make the Dodgers’ taciturn manager giddy.

Well, giddy for him anyway.

“We feel the best when we win games,” he said. “But we do feel confident that the people we’re going to run out there now have a good chance to win the game.”

And that’s a confidence that’s been lacking lately. Although the top of the rotation has been strong -- Brad Penny, Derek Lowe and Randy Wolf have combined to go 19-8 with a 3.03 earned-run average -- the rest of the starters the Dodgers have run out there were 4-11 with a 5.61 ERA before Saturday.

But now with Schmidt seemingly healthy, a productive Kuo could make the Dodgers five deep in starters.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence in that kid to know that he’s going to pitch good for us,” Little said. “He’ll be back out there in five days and we can’t wait to see him.”

Kuo got off to a rough or unlucky start Saturday, depending on one’s perspective, with the Pirates getting two runs on three hits, a walk and a hit batter before he got his second out.

And it could have been worse since the inning ended with right fielder Andre Ethier throwing out Freddy Sanchez at the plate to complete a double play.

“They didn’t really hit a ball hard off him,” pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said. “He pitched in some tough luck but battled through to keep us in the ballgame. That was a huge lift for the club. That’s all you can ask.”

Kuo settled down after that, giving up two more hits and not allowing a runner into scoring position before leaving with two out in the fifth for Brett Tomko, the man he replaced in the rotation.

“After the first inning, I felt fine,” said Kuo, who confessed to some early jitters. “They gave me a chance and I just tried to go out there and enjoy the game and do the best I can. That’s all I was thinking.

“But I didn’t go five or six innings. I’ll try to get there next time. As a starter, I try to go out there and try to pitch at least five or six [innings].”

Tomko gave up a long home run to Xavier Nady in the sixth, but escaped more trouble when the Pirates self-destructed on the basepaths again with two runners getting thrown out at home in the span of three pitches.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, got only two runners as far as third, much less home -- and both times rookie Tony Abreu was responsible, doubling home Mike Lieberthal in the second and doubling Ethier to third in the seventh.

Snell (5-4) squashed that second rally by striking out Wilson Betemit and Juan Pierre with the tying runs in scoring position.

Yet while the Dodgers couldn’t turn the corner toward home during the game, they still left the ballpark thinking that now, with their new rotation intact, they may finally have turned the corner on the season.

“We feel good,” outfielder Luis Gonzalez said. “If our starters can take us deeper into the game, it only makes us that much tougher. It’s a tight division right now. We just have to continue to go out and try to win series and try to play well.”

kevin.baxter@latimes.com