Scott Kazmir plays cards right and Dodgers get 5-3 victory

The medical staff of the Dodgers forbade Scott Kazmir from swinging a bat, but he ignored their wishes last week. Kazmir took some hacks during a start against the New York Mets, an ill-fated decision that triggered soreness in his left wrist and thumb. As the pitchers practiced hitting later in the week, bench coach Bob Geren devised a solution to temper Kazmir’s aggression.

Give him a bat too heavy to swing.

So, in the fifth inning of a 5-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday, Kazmir lugged to the plate a 36-inch, 34-ounce club, four inches longer and four ounces heavier than his usual stick. With two strikes against St. Louis right-hander Carlos Martinez, Kazmir chopped a bunt single across the infield grass.

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“That started everything,” Kazmir said. “So that was good.”

Three runs followed in that inning, the go-ahead flurry on a night of firsts for Kazmir. He recorded his first hit as a Dodger, finished the seventh inning for the first time in 2016 and earned his first victory at Dodger Stadium. The crowd showered him with adoration as he left after 82/3 innings of work, a two-run homer by pinch-hitter Jeremy Hazelbaker ruining his chance for his first complete game since 2014.

Kazmir’s fastball touched 94 mph in the ninth inning. Manager Dave Roberts complimented him on the crispness of his changeup, a pitch Kazmir struggled to command at the start of the season because of a sore pitching hand. Kazmir downplayed the injury, but Roberts indicated it had a role in the early tumult.

“He wasn’t throwing his changeup as much with the injury,” Roberts said. “But now he feels confident, and the velocity’s coming back.”

Adrian Gonzalez hit his fourth home run of the season. Corey Seager atoned for a pair of errors in the field with an RBI single in the fifth and a solo shot in the seventh. The offense produced five runs for the third consecutive game, and the Dodgers (20-17) have a three-game winning streak for the first time since the second week of the season.

The performance of Kazmir offered evidence of stabilization with the starting rotation. In a minor league ballpark about 1,300 miles to the east, the team’s top pitching prospect kept the front office on notice. Julio Urias extended his scoreless-inning streak for triple-A Oklahoma City to 22.

The specter of Urias will loom over the team as Alex Wood and Ross Stripling search for consistency. Yet heading into Saturday, Kazmir carried the rotation’s worst earned-run average at 5.54.

The Dodgers had lost in five of Kazmir’s seven starts. He had been victimized by home runs in both of his previous two outings. The matchup looked volatile: The Cardinals entered the game leading the majors in home runs. Kazmir intended to defuse them with fastballs and cutters on the inner half and changeups away.

“It felt great to be 90, 100 pitches in and still have that life on the fastball,” Kazmir said. “That’s always good. That always helps with the secondary pitches.”

He struck out Matt Holliday with a low fastball in the first, punched out first baseman Brandon Moss with a trio of sliders in the second and finished off center fielder Randal Grichuk with a 93-mph fastball two batters later. The fastball did not flag as the evening continued.

An error by Seager led to a Cardinals run in the fifth, but the Dodgers answered with their bats in the bottom of the inning. Kazmir struck out Ruben Tejada and Matt Carpenter in the eighth on 94-mph fastballs.

“Personally, that’s the best I’ve ever seen him,” Seager said.

After Hazelbaker went deep, Roberts handed the baseball to Kenley Jansen for a one-out save.

Kazmir trotted off the mound to a standing ovation. He is still not cleared to swing a bat. But on Saturday, he demonstrated his deftness throwing the baseball.

“Everything is feeling better and better,” Kazmir said. “I’m excited. I’m going to take a lot of positives out of this outing.”

Follow Andy McCullough on Twitter @McCulloughTimes