Eric Stults gives Dodgers a lift, and offense carries them

This was the night that the pitching was supposed to go from bad to worse.

Eric Stults didn’t let that happen.

Summoned from the minors on short notice to replace injured Hiroki Kuroda in the rotation, the 29-year-old left-hander gave up only one run in 5 1/3 innings to set the stage for the kind of offensive explosion that was foretold for days by Dodgers Manager Joe Torre.

The Dodgers pounded out 11 hits and ended their first losing streak of the season in an 11-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night, as Orlando Hudson homered, doubled and drove in three runs in his second game as a visiting player at Chase Field.

Russell Martin and Andre Ethier each had a two-run double in the lopsided victory, to which Manny Ramirez contributed two walks and two runs.

The victory was only the fifth ever for Stults, who had more than baseball on his mind this night. His mother, Kathy, died of breast cancer in the weeks before spring training.

“I know she enjoyed watching me and I know she enjoyed watching me tonight,” Stults said. “She’ll always be with me.”

Stults said the loss of his mother affected him in spring training when he posted a 9.49 earned-run average and was beaten out for the final rotation spot by rookie James McDonald, who gave up five runs in 2 1/3 innings of a loss Friday night.

“Early on,” Stults said, “it was really hard to focus on baseball.”

Torre said he could tell.

“His mind was wandering all the time,” Torre said.

Stults, who has spent the last few years bouncing between the minors and majors, was told Thursday night that Kuroda was hurt and that he could be called upon to take his place. On Friday, a day he was originally scheduled to pitch for triple-A Albuquerque, Stults boarded a flight in New Mexico and landed in Arizona.

The man who walked into Chase Field the next day wasn’t the same pitcher who was battered in spring training.

“Tonight he was aggressive,” Torre said. “Really, when he was behind in the count, he went right at people.”

Yusmeiro Petit, a fill-in for Diamondbacks opening-day starter Brandon Webb, had a perfect game through three innings but Stults matched him zero for zero. And in the fourth inning, Petit finally blinked.

The initial blow was struck by Hudson, who crushed a ball over the fence in right field for his first home run of the season, a solo blast that put the Dodgers ahead, 1-0.

Hudson said he’s gaining confidence in the left wrist he broke last year, the last of his three seasons with the Diamondbacks. He laughed when speaking of how much strength he lost in that wrist, saying that at one time his right arm looked like light-heavyweight boxer Roy Jones’ and that his left looked like former lightweight Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s.

“I’m still climbing,” Hudson said. “I’m still going up.”

Hudson’s home run shook Petit, who issued back-to-back walks to Ramirez and Loney.

A sharp grounder by Martin shot between the legs of third baseman Mark Reynolds for a two-run double that extended the Dodgers’ lead to 3-0.

Arizona Manager Bob Melvin put Billy Buckner in the game in the sixth and watched him give up five runs and four hits in two-thirds of an inning.

The game was over.

The Dodgers bullpen, which blew a two-run lead Thursday in San Diego, was better Saturday as Ronald Belisario and Cory Wade combined for 2 2/3 scoreless innings before Jonathan Broxton finished up.

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com