Who’s on second for Dodgers? It’s looking more like Blake DeWitt

Reporting from Phoenix — 

Almost every day, Dodgers Manager Joe Torre gets asked the same question: Who’s your starting second baseman?

Torre again declined to answer the question Monday, but offered the strongest indication to date that the job will go to Blake DeWitt when he said that the club will likely start the season with 11 pitchers instead of 12.

“I’d say if we have an 11-pitcher situation that Blake DeWitt’s chances are better,” Torre said.

Torre said the Dodgers will probably carry 12 pitchers for most of the season, but the anticipated unavailability of Ronald Belisario and Hong-Chih Kuo on opening day will make it easier for them to devote an extra roster spot to a position player.

Belisario didn’t report to spring training until Saturday and Kuo is sidelined because of a tender elbow.

DeWitt went into the Dodgers’ game Monday night batting .367, but his standing looked like it could be compromised by the surplus of infielders.

Utility infielders Jamey Carroll and Ronnie Belliard, DeWitt’s two competitors for the second base job, have guaranteed major league contracts; so do backup catcher Brad Ausmus and fourth outfielder Reed Johnson.

Garret Anderson appears to be a lock to make the club as a left-handed pinch-hitter.

By taking only 11 pitchers to Pittsburgh for their April 5 opener, the Dodgers would be able to keep DeWitt in the majors and offer a roster spot to a backup shortstop. That is likely to be Nick Green, who is in camp on a minor league contract.

Scoring controversy

Hiroki Kuroda made his final start in Arizona this spring on the minor league side of the Dodgers’ complex, limiting the Cincinnati Reds’ triple-A lineup to one run over seven sharp innings.

Kuroda struck out seven, but the number of hits he gave up was a point of contention because the game didn’t have an official scorer.

The number was as few as one or as many as six.

Overhearing a reporter and public relations official debate whether a third-inning ball that made its way to the outfield should be scored a hit or an E-4, pitching coach Rick Honeycutt turned around in his nearby seat and said, “Error.”

A Dodgers official in the vicinity disagreed.

The Times charged Kuroda with two hits, including a home run, though Honeycutt later joked that left fielder Jay Gibbons was in position to catch the ball that cleared the fence behind him and should have been charged with an error.

Short hops

Initially scheduled to catch in the Dodgers’ game in Tucson against the Rockies, Russell Martin will instead rest Tuesday because he caught seven innings in minor league games the last two days. Martin will return to major league action in the Dodgers’ Cactus League finale against the Giants on Wednesday. . . . Pitcher Josh Lindblom received the Dearie Mulvey Award as the top rookie in camp.

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com