Stranded runners continue to stand by

Manager Grady Little compared the Dodgers’ penchant for putting runners on base and then leaving them there -- they have stranded a National League-high 334 runners -- to his success managing in the minor leagues.

“That’s kind of like me managing all those years in the minor leagues and having 1,000 wins,” said Little, who won 1,054 games in 16 seasons before being hired by the Boston Red Sox before the 2002 season. “It’s the minor leagues.

“We would like to find ourselves being a little bit more productive when we have opportunities like that, and I’m sure that day is going to come.”

It wasn’t Saturday. The Dodgers stranded eight more runners and were one for 10 with runners in scoring position in a 6-2 Freeway Series loss to the Angels at Angel Stadium.

Jeff Kent homered leading off the second inning and Andre Ethier had two hits, including a run-scoring single in the fourth, but that was pretty much the extent of a Dodgers offense that has been stuck in neutral against its Southern California rivals.

The Dodgers had two-on, two-out threats in the third and ninth innings but came up empty each time. Kent flied out to center field to end the third, and Rafael Furcal grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the game.

“One of the reasons we have so many ballgames is teams can go through stretches where they’re just not putting it all together,” Kent said. “It’s just part of this game. It’s part of the frustration of this game too as players, to try to figure out why and then to implement and hopefully succeed. That’s hard to do too, even when you know what the reason is.”

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Mark Hendrickson gave up seasons highs in runs (six) and earned runs (five) but did not think he pitched poorly. Maybe that’s because the big blow against him came on a two-run bloop double by Robb Quinlan in the sixth inning.

“It’s one of those games where you scratch your head a little bit because I felt like I was making some pitches and just got beat,” said Hendrickson, who needed only 78 pitches to get through a season-high 6 2/3 innings.

Hendrickson might have made it through the seventh had Orlando Cabrera not singled with two out to bring up Vladimir Guerrero and prompt Little to bring in Chin-hui Tsao.

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Russell Martin was the designated hitter, giving the heavily used catcher only his fifth day off from his duties behind the plate.... Reliever Chad Billingsley extended his scoreless streak to 10 2/3 innings spanning seven appearances with a scoreless eighth inning.

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ben.bolch@latimes.com