Kuo’s effort gives bullpen a workout

Hong-Chih Kuo left the Dodgers short on long relievers by lasting only 1 2/3 innings Wednesday during a 12-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre.

With reliever Chad Billingsley moving out of the bullpen to assume the injured Jason Schmidt’s spot in the starting rotation, the Dodgers were already somewhat short-handed before Kuo’s shortest start of the season forced Brett Tomko into the game in the second inning.

Billingsley will be limited to about 60 pitches tonight in his first start of the season, meaning that Mark Hendrickson and Rudy Seanez will be on call to pitch multiple innings out of an increasingly taxed bullpen.

After pitching a perfect first inning, Kuo allowed the first five batters to reach base during the Blue Jays’ eight-run second inning that included Alex Rios’ two-run double and Frank Thomas’ grand slam, the 497th homer of his career.

“I missed a lot of pitches,” said Kuo, who was charged with all eight runs in the inning. “Today was just a bad day for me.”

Tomko was also roughed up a bit, giving up four runs in 3 1/3 innings, creating ample breathing room for Toronto starter Roy Halladay against a Dodgers lineup that reverted to its old struggles after breaking through for 10 runs Tuesday.

“It’s not a real good habit to get into, falling down 10 or 12 runs to one of the best pitchers in the game,” Dodgers Manager Grady Little said of Halladay, who gave up only one run on Andre Ethier’s homer in eight innings. “They have a tendency to be able to hold that, and he didn’t have any problem out there tonight.”

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The Dodgers are reviewing their policy on allowing fans to bring flags into Dodger Stadium in the wake of an incident June 9 in which some fans were ejected after coming to the defense of a man who nearly had a large Canadian flag confiscated by security personnel.

Dodgers officials contended the flag blocked the view of other fans and violated stadium policy.

“We do not allow signs in the stadium -- we never have -- but obviously in an attempt to try to help people show their national pride, we’re trying to find a way to allow flags,” team spokesman Josh Rawitch said. “Our policy may eventually allow flags of a certain size.”

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Outfielder Brady Clark, who was designated for assignment earlier this month, cleared waivers and became a free agent. Clark hit .224 with no homers and five runs batted in in 47 games, though he made a memorable contribution with a run-scoring double in the 17th inning to lift the Dodgers to a 5-4 victory over San Diego on April 29.... Olmedo Saenz started at designated hitter because he had hit .417 with a homer and three runs batted in in 12 previous at-bats against Halladay. But Saenz went hitless in three at-bats Wednesday, dropping his average as the Dodgers’ designated hitter to .167 since the start of the 2005 season.... Reliever Chin-hui Tsao, recovering from a strained right shoulder, threw all his pitches off a mound at about 90% effort and will throw again in another day or so.

ben.bolch@latimes.com