Rich Hill’s pitching, Justin Turner’s home run are enough for Dodgers’ 1-0 win over Giants

For 22 days, Rich Hill existed as a Dodger in name only. He wore the uniform of the franchise but never graced the field. On two occasions, the team scheduled him to start a game only to scratch him because of a blister on his left hand. The only competitive outing he threw for the team was a simulated outing at dusk in the desert.

The wait ended Wednesday night in a 1-0 victory over San Francisco, as the Dodgers bested their division foes thanks to six scoreless innings from Hill. His performance reminded why the front office of Andrew Friedman targeted him in the first place.

“I’m not really surprised,” said outfielder Josh Reddick, who accompanied Hill in the trade with Oakland. “That’s Rich.”

Wielding a curveball unseen in Dodger Stadium since Clayton Kershaw injured his back, Hill looked like an antidote to the travails of the rotation. He induced soft contact, scattering five singles and never allowing a Giant to reach third base. He operated with efficiency, needing 81 pitches for 18 outs.

A day after roughing up Madison Bumgarner and scoring nine runs, the offense for the Dodgers (71-55) consisted of a home run by Justin Turner and little else. The output was enough to increase the team’s lead in the National League West to three games over the Giants.

“Everything felt solid,” Hill said. “Mentally, felt great. Body feels good. Just being able to stay pitch to pitch, in the moment, is extremely advantageous.”

The drama did not end with Hill’s exit. In the eighth, Joe Blanton allowed runners to reach the corners. With two outs, Manager Dave Roberts visited the mound. He decided to stick with Blanton against left-handed hitter Brandon Crawford, rather than use left-handed reliever Grant Dayton.

The move looked costly when Crawford stung a slider to the warning track. Reddick settled underneath it. Inside the dugout, Roberts raised his fists to celebrate. “I felt much better when it went into Reddick’s glove,” Roberts said with a grin afterward.

The Dodgers acquired Hill three weeks ago at the Aug. 1 trade deadline. He arrived as a damaged asset, still nursing the blister on his left middle finger. The blister burst during a five-pitch outing for Oakland on July 17, which forced Hill onto the disabled list. But the Dodgers believed his upside exceeded the rest of the pitchers available on the affordable end of the trade market, even after his lengthy layoff.

A journeyman for the first decade of his career, Hill refashioned himself into a front-line starter late in 2015. A four-outing cameo with Boston earned him a $6-million contract with Oakland for this season. Across his 14 starts with Oakland, Hill posted a 2.25 earned-run average and struck out more than a batter per inning.

The Dodgers thirst for competence from their starting staff. On Tuesday afternoon, the team placed Scott Kazmir and Brett Anderson on the disabled list. Brandon McCarthy is rehabilitating a hip injury. Kershaw is still weeks away from returning. The rotation is held together by rookies, bubblegum and Bud Norris.

So Hill was a welcome sight for the franchise. He walked out of the dugout by himself at 7:07 p.m. Three minutes later, he fired his first pitch as a Dodger. It was a fastball, clocked at 91 mph, located a few inches outside the zone. He required 16 pitches to complete the first inning, as he worked around two-out singles by catcher Buster Posey and outfielder Hunter Pence.

The second single annoyed the Dodgers. Pence topped the baseball toward third base and narrowly beat Turner’s throw. But the hit allowed Hill to create a highlight. He froze Crawford with an 0-2 curveball, thrown from a sidearm delivery. The pitch resembled a Frisbee as it bent away from Crawford and into Yasmani Grandal’s glove.

His curveball was “very effective” on Wednesday, Hill said. “It came out of my hand great.”

Hill found a worthy adversary in the form of Giants starter Johnny Cueto, the tempo-disrupting, rump-shaking right-hander. Cueto kept the Dodgers hitless through the first three innings. He lost his chance for a no-hitter and his bid at a shutout with one swing from Turner in the fourth. Turner pulled a slider over the left-field fence for his 24th home run of the season.

The offense could not generate much more. It did not need to do anything else. Hill retired the final eight batters he faced. In the dugout after the sixth, he conferred with Roberts. Hill had not pitched deep into a game since July 7, and the Dodgers plan to use him every fifth day into October.

The two men shook hands. The rest of his teammates congratulated him on his effort. For 22 days, Hill had resided on the periphery of this roster, unable to aid his team’s efforts. On his first official night as a Dodger, no man was more important.

“He willed himself through six innings,” Roberts said. “And we came out unscathed.”

andy.mccullough@latimes.com

Twitter: @McCulloughTimes