After hectic 72 hours, Dodgers return home

BEIJING -- How much the Dodgers’ spring was disrupted by the 30-man split squad’s three-day excursion to China might not be clear for some time, but Manager Joe Torre said he had peace of mind leaving the site of the club’s historic two-game exhibition series on Sunday knowing that at least no immediate harm was done.

Even if serious harm was averted by mere inches.

Eight innings into the Dodgers’ 6-3 loss to the San Diego Padres at Wukesong Stadium in the second major league game to ever be played within the country’s borders, a blooper off the bat of Adrian Gonzalez floated into shallow right-center field. Kevin Howard ran back from his station at second base. Charging in from right field was Matt Kemp, the only projected opening-day starter on the trip other than Andruw Jones.

Howard and Kemp collided, and the wind-carried ball dropped for a single, but the damage ended there.

“They’re two big kids,” Torre said. “Not too many good things happen when you see that. We lucked out.”

For General Manager Ned Colletti, the scene took him back to a year ago, when Rafael Furcal and Jason Repko had a similar collision that resulted in Furcal being hobbled with a sprained ankle for the entire season.

“I saw it in slow motion,” Colletti said.

Kemp acknowledged that he made a mistake by not calling off Howard. “It could’ve been pretty bad, man,” he said.

The close call and diplomatic duties in China behind them, Torre and Colletti turned their attention to the next stage of spring training, which will be in Phoenix. The Dodgers are taking over a facility that will be vacated by the Oakland Athletics, who are playing a season-opening series against the Boston Red Sox in Tokyo, Japan.

By the time the players who remained at the team’s initial spring training base in Florida make their way to the desert and take part in a full-squad work on Wednesday, a week will have elapsed since Torre saw them last. But Torre said that the prolonged separation from the team’s nucleus hasn’t been a real concern, as he has tracked its progress with nightly phone calls to third base coach Larry Bowa and bench coach Bob Schaefer.

“That’s why I put a great deal of responsibility on my coaches,” Torre said. “When I talk to them, I know I’m not getting lip service.”

Even though Torre was looking ahead -- he cut nine players after the game on Sunday -- he managed to take time to reflect on the hectic 72 hours he spent spreading the gospel of Abner Doubleday in the world’s most populated country.

Seeing news channels blacked out for segments deemed inappropriate by the Chinese government, Torre said he had an increased appreciation for freedom of speech back home. And seeing the way cars cut each other off without any warning in Beijing’s congested streets, he said he came to realize that traffic in Los Angeles and New York weren’t as bad as he previously thought.

“Sitting in the first row is dangerous on the bus,” said Torre, who often squirmed on the rides to and from the ballpark.

Kemp drove in three runs in his first two trips to the plate to put the Dodgers ahead, 3-0, through three innings.

But Eric Stults, who started the game by striking out the side, gave up two runs in the fourth. The Dodgers fell behind, 5-3, an inning later when Tanyon Sturtze gave up three runs in two-thirds of an inning.

The game was witnessed by a crowd of 11,890, down from 12,224 the previous day.

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com