Dodgers’ opening-day starter is up in the air

Reporting from Surprise, Ariz. — 

The guessing game continues about which Dodgers pitcher will start opening day.

Manager Joe Torre had planned to announce his choice Saturday. But after a Dodgers split-squad team beat the Texas Rangers, 5-4, in a spring-training game, he said the announcement wouldn’t come until after Tuesday, when the Dodgers have a day off.

“I’m looking at some time after the off day”to make the move, Torre said. “We’re not going to do it before that. Honey and I are still talking about it,” he said, referring to pitching coach Rick Honeycutt.

The four candidates in the Dodgers’ starting rotation are left-hander Clayton Kershaw and right-handers Hiroki Kuroda, Chad Billingsley and Vicente Padilla.

The Dodgers’ season opens April 5 when they play the Pirates in Pittsburgh. The Dodgers’ home opener is April 13 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The fifth spot in the starting rotation also remained in the air. Prospects for that role include Eric Stults, Charlie Haeger, Ramon Ortiz, Russ Ortiz and Carlos Monasterios.

Torre said Josh Towers, who gave up two earned runs in four innings in the game against Texas, also was a candidate to be the fifth starter.

McDonald demoted

After reliever James McDonald was shelled by the San Diego Padres on Friday night, the Dodgers had seen enough. They sent him to the minor leagues Saturday.

McDonald, 25, gave up six earned runs in only 1 1/3 innings against the Padres, and overall this spring he surrendered 12 earned runs in 5 1/3 innings.

When spring training started, McDonald was considered another prospect to be the Dodgers’ fifth starter, just as he was at the start of the 2009 season.

The tall, lanky McDonald wobbled as a starter in April last season and was moved to the bullpen, where he pitched relatively well for the rest of the season, going 4-4 with a 2.72 earned-run average in 41 games.

Torre had signaled earlier Saturday that if McDonald went to the minors, he likely would stay in the bullpen rather than starting so that McDonald could get enough practice to work out his problems, including his struggle to locate pitches and not fall behind in counts.

“It’s just about being more consistent,” Torre said.

And finally

The Dodgers said backup catcher Brad Ausmus, 40, had an epidural to relieve lower back pain and wouldn’t play until Wednesday at the earliest . . . Another catcher, Lucas May, and right-handed pitcher Jon Link also were sent to minor league camp.

james.peltz@latimes.com