Billingsley to take Schmidt’s spot

Chad Billingsley will take the mound again Thursday, hoping to provide a different kind of relief after pitching effectively out of the bullpen for the season’s first 11 weeks.

The Dodgers need the starter-turned-reliever to help shore up their rotation for the foreseeable future after learning that Jason Schmidt will undergo exploratory arthroscopic shoulder surgery today in Los Angeles.

Billingsley has provided dependable middle relief, going 4-0 with a 3.09 earned-run average and 40 strikeouts in 35 innings.

The most impressive number might be his 13 walks, a dramatic improvement for a pitcher who was often erratic as a starter last season.

“Last year, I was pressing and just giving the hitters a little too much credit,” Billingsley said. “I just always thought I had to be so perfect with my pitches, and that’s what allowed me to get way behind in the count to the hitters.

“This year, I’ve been getting ahead with first-pitch strikes and getting ahead in the count a lot, and it makes it a lot easier. Hopefully, I can carry everything I’ve learned in the bullpen into starting and everything goes from there.”

Manager Grady Little said he hopes that Billingsley, who has thrown as many as 53 pitches and pitched as many as three innings in an appearance this season, can last 55 or 60 pitches Thursday against Toronto.

“We’re certainly not going to push him too far in his first time or two,” Little said. “We feel by his third start he should be hopefully ready to go 90, 95 pitches.”

Unlike other converted starters who abandon part of their repertoire upon moving into the bullpen, Billingsley said he has continued to throw all his pitches because he knew he would eventually start again. He just didn’t envision it being this soon.

*

Reliever Yhency Brazoban will undergo surgery Friday to repair what the Dodgers believe is a torn labrum in his right shoulder and could be sidelined for the remainder of the season.

The length of Brazoban’s recovery will depend on whether the labrum is only partially torn or detached from the bone, said Stan Conte, the Dodgers’ director of medical services. Brazoban, who underwent elbow ligament replacement surgery in April 2006, has pitched in only nine games since the start of last season.

*

James Loney was experiencing only a little soreness and swelling two days after banging his right knee into concrete at the base of the right-field wall at Dodger Stadium.

“It could have been a lot worse,” said the utility player, who did not play Tuesday but could return as soon as tonight.

Should the Dodgers put a protective covering over the concrete to safeguard players from similar injuries? “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to put something over that concrete,” Loney said.

*

Infielder Ramon Martinez was examined by a spine specialist in Southern California after suffering a minor setback in his recovery from a strained lower back. He did not accompany the Dodgers to Toronto but could rejoin the team next week in Phoenix and resume baseball activities, Little said.... Reliever Chin-hui Tsao, on the disabled list since May 20 because of a strained right shoulder, threw breaking balls on flat ground Tuesday and is scheduled to throw all his pitches off a mound today.... Catcher Russell Martin increased his lead to 120,000 votes over the New York Mets’ Paul Lo Duca in the latest All-Star voting.

--

ben.bolch@latimes.com