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Lowe gets to ground zero

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Times Staff Writer

Barry Bonds can have the home run record. And so what if Magglio Ordonez and Alex Rodriguez have 100 runs batted in by the All-Star break?

The Dodgers and Manager Grady Little would rather have their wins -- even if they are coming in an unconventional manner. Because while the rest of baseball has come to dig the long ball, the Dodgers continue to win with pitching, as they did Wednesday when Derek Lowe held the Washington Nationals to three hits over seven innings in a 5-0 victory.

That followed a 10-0 victory over the Nationals on Tuesday, giving the Dodgers consecutive shutouts for the first time in three seasons as well as six wins in their last seven games, pushing them 10 games over .500 for the first time this season.

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“Some teams are built on offense. And some teams are built on pitching,” said pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, whose staff hasn’t given up a run in 21 consecutive innings and has surrendered only one score in their last 34. “When we pitch good, we look like a good team. You have to win with what you have.”

OK, so then consider the Dodgers’ offense: It started Wednesday tied for last in the 16-team National League in home runs (30), was 13th in slugging percentage, 14th in total bases and ninth in runs and RBIs.

Now consider their pitching staff. Only three teams in baseball -- the San Diego Padres, New York Mets and Oakland Athletics -- have a lower earned-run average than the Dodgers’ 3.48. The Dodgers are also first in the majors with 390 strikeouts and tied for second with four shutouts.

And they’ve done that without Jason Schmidt. Call it Little ball -- pitch greatly if you’re carrying a small stick.

“It’s all about executing,” Little said. “We’re going to have to execute fundamentally if we want to be successful. We’re not a team that’s going to sit back and wait for a home run. But as long as we execute, we feel like we’ll be good enough.”

The Dodgers started executing in the fifth inning Wednesday. Held to two singles to that point, the Dodgers sandwiched doubles by Luis Gonzalez and Andre Ethier around an out to go up, 1-0. An out and a walk later, Rafael Furcal drove in Ethier with a ground single to right field that ran his hitting streak to a career-best 15 games.

An inning later Russell Martin doubled the Dodgers’ lead when he touched starter Mike Bacsik (1-1) for a two-run homer, his fourth of the season before Lowe walked and scored the fifth run on Nomar Garciaparra’s infield single in the seventh inning.

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That proved more than enough for the right-hander and two relievers, who combined to allow only one National into scoring position, and that runner advanced on an error.

“The final line score looked good, but it was a struggle,” said Lowe (5-5), who went at least seven innings for the seventh time in 12 starts and lowered his ERA for May to 2.16. “The outs weren’t coming easy. [But] mentally if you know you can go out there and grind out games like this, then when you do have your good stuff, hopefully you can make games easier.”

There could be storm clouds on the Dodgers’ horizon, however. Closer Takashi Saito, who has converted 25 consecutive save opportunities, hasn’t pitched in five days because of a stiff shoulder. And though Little said he had hoped to use Saito on Wednesday, he had Saito throw lightly in the bullpen instead, leaving it to Joe Beimel and Rudy Seanez to finish off the victory.

“He was ready if we ran into any jam there in the ninth,” Little said. “He’s fine. He’s 100%.”

kevin.baxter@latimes.com

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