Long, late trip has a bumpy ending

Depending on whom you asked, the Dodgers’ charter flight from Pittsburgh was either a harrowing experience or fairly routine.

There was a cockpit warning light indicating malfunctioning flaps and a hard landing at San Diego International Airport early Tuesday morning, but no one outside the cockpit sensed any problems until they saw fire trucks and other emergency vehicles near the runway.

“We hit the ground running,” Dodgers Manager Grady Little said. “There was stuff in the front of the plane that started out in back of the plane.”

Manager of team travel Scott Akasaki said that Edwin Dee Thompson, the Dodgers’ Delta charter coordinator, told him the flaps were working properly even though the cockpit light indicated otherwise. The pilot never informed the passengers of any potential problems.

Akasaki said airline protocol dictated that the plane land at a facility equipped to repair the malfunction, leaving the pilot the option of diverting to either Los Angeles International Airport or the North Island Naval Station in San Diego.

But the pilot, citing the long flight from Pittsburgh and the need to get the players to their final destination, landed at San Diego International Airport as scheduled. Akasaki said the emergency vehicles were present only as a precaution and that reports that the plane was dumping fuel over the ocean before landing were false.

There was no disputing the rough landing at about 1:40 a.m.

“I think we were well up over 200 mph when we hit the ground,” Little said. “We’re here safely, and that’s all that counts.”

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For all the flak Juan Pierre has received for his relatively low on-base percentage for a top-of-the-order hitter, there have been few better clutch hitters.

Pierre was hitting a major league-best .462 this season before Tuesday in late-inning pressure situations -- being in the seventh inning or later with the batting team ahead by a run, tied or having the tying run on base, at bat or on deck.

On Tuesday, though, Pierre came up in the seventh inning with runners on first and second and two out and grounded out.

“I didn’t even know,” Pierre said when apprised of the statistic before the game. “I just try to get it done, definitely later in the game when it’s tied or when we need an extra run.”

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Takashi Saito threw on flat ground to test his sore left hamstring, but the closer said he did not expect to pitch in the final two games of the Dodgers’ series against San Diego.

Saito said through an interpreter that he had not felt discomfort in the hamstring since he left the mound Sunday in Pittsburgh and that “it gets better each day.”

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An MRI exam on Yhency Brazoban’s sore shoulder revealed no further damage besides inflammation, and the reliever was expected to resume throwing early next week.... Reliever Chin-hui Tsao, recovering from a strained shoulder, is also scheduled to resume throwing next week.... As expected, the Dodgers optioned reliever Eric Hull to triple-A Las Vegas to make room on the roster for Jason Schmidt.

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ben.bolch@latimes.com