‘Ace’ gives Dodgers a lift

CINCINNATI -- On the day that Brad Penny was moved to the 15-day disabled list, Hiroki Kuroda flew to Los Angeles to get his shoulder examined and the offense continued to stall, the kid whom catcher Russell Martin considers the Dodgers’ ace took the mound and delivered the kind of performance that was necessary to end a season-long five-game losing streak.

With his parents making the in-state three-hour trip from Defiance to be among the 26,906 fans at Great American Ball Park, Chad Billingsley held the Cincinnati Reds scoreless through the first six innings of a tight ballgame, positioning the Dodgers to claim a 3-1 victory Tuesday night.

Billingsley (5-7) earned his first win in five starts, as he struck out nine and was charged with one run over 6 1/3 innings.

“I consider him our ace,” Martin said. “We have a few aces on this team, but he’s the one who’s probably been the most consistent over the last six, seven starts.”

But soft-spoken Billingsley was quick to pass on the credit, pointing out how left-hander Joe Beimel limited the Reds to a single run when he replaced him with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh, and how Jeff Kent and Blake DeWitt scored the Dodgers’ last two runs from first base on doubles.

“We’re right there,” Billingsley said. “Doing the basics, that’s all it comes down to.”

The way the game unfolded provided closer Takashi Saito with the chance to record his first save in almost four weeks. Saito’s last save was May 21 at Dodger Stadium, also against the Reds.

Earning the long-awaited save was no simple matter, as Joey Votto led off the bottom of the ninth with a 10-pitch at-bat that ended with a single to left.

But Saito got out of trouble by striking out Ken Griffey Jr. and David Ross and by forcing Corey Patterson into a game-ending groundout.

Along the way, Saito repeatedly stepped off the mound. He did so enough that at one point, Martin visited him to offer a few words of encouragement.

“I told him to finish the freaking game, but I said it in a different way,” Martin said.

Saito, who blew a save May 28 in Chicago in his only save situation between May 21 and Tuesday, acknowledged that he felt unnatural under these circumstances.

“I was hesitant,” he said. “A win means a lot for us right now.”

Griffey was limited by illness to pinch-hitting duties on the day he was honored for hitting his 600th home run last week.

The Reds sent a prized arm of their own to start for them, rookie right-hander Johnny Cueto.

The Dodgers pinned their first run on Cueto in the third, when a sacrifice bunt by Billingsley moved Angel Berroa to second, allowing him to score on a double by Juan Pierre.

The lead doubled to 2-0 in the fourth, as Kent scored from first on a double to left by Martin. Asked whether he thought the slow-moving 40-year-old would score on the play, Martin laughed.

“He runs pretty good for an old guy,” Martin said.

The Reds closed to within 2-1 in the seventh, but a double by Kent in the eighth scored DeWitt from first and gave the bullpen a little insurance.

With the win in the books, the day that started on a negative note ended with another uplifting development, as news came in from Las Vegas that Nomar Garciaparra played four innings and hit a home run in the first game of his minor league rehabilitation assignment.

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com