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Hendrickson baffles Diamondbacks as Dodgers win series

May 2, 2007 - 11:35 PM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Mark Hendrickson is making the Los Angeles Dodgers forget all about Jason Schmidt.

Hendrickson worked six outstanding innings Wednesday to outduel Doug Davis and lead the Dodgers to a 2-1 triumph over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

It was the third victory in the last four games for Los Angeles, which improved to 4-1 against Arizona this season.

Signed to a three-year, $47 million contract last December, Schmidt was brought in with a hefty price tag to anchor the rotation this season. But the veteran righthander has been sidelined for the last two weeks with a shoulder injury and is not expected to return for at least a month.

In Schmidt's absence, the Dodgers have turned to Hendrickson (2-0), who has rewarded the ballclub with three consecutive stellar starts. The 6-9 lefthander has yielded a total of just two runs in 16 2/3 innings since joining the rotation, allowing 10 hits while striking out 13 over that stretch.

"I have felt like I have pitched really good this season," Hendrickson said. "Each start I have has been different because I have different pitches working for me."

"(Hendrickson) has done everything we have asked of him and more for stepping up and filling in for Jason," Dodgers manager Grady Little added. "Mark is just stepping up big for us in any pitching role we give him. His confidence level is just so high right now, and that's a big deal for a pitcher."

Hendrickson was terrific again Wednesday, surrendering three hits and one walk with seven strikeouts.

"I don't pay attention to the fact that I'm just filling in right now because I just have to be ready to go out and do whatever I need to do to help this club win games," Hendrickson said. "I threw a lot of cutters today and made pitches when I had to. I don't feel any pressure, I just have to keep going out there and pitch my game."

Chin-hui Tsao and Jonathan Broxton worked the seventh and eighth, respectively, to set up fellow righthander Takashi Saito, who yielded a run and two hits in the ninth but held on to notch his eighth save.

In spite of his stingy performance, Hendrickson found himself locked in a duel with the lefthanded Davis (2-3), who entered with a sparkling 0.00 career ERA in 15 innings against the Dodgers.

Davis nearly matched Hendrickson, yielding only one unearned run and five hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in seven innings.

"I felt like I got myself into a good rhythm today and made solid pitches," Davis said. "I have been pitching good and I know if I keep pitching the way I am now, then the wins will come."

"We got everything we wanted from Doug today," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. "He kept us close and gave our team a good chance to get the win, but we just came up a little short."

Los Angeles finally got on the board against Davis in the sixth inning to snap a scoreless tie.

Rafael Furcal opened the inning with a long fly ball to right-center field which was misplayed by center fielder Chris Young, who dropped the ball near the warning track.

"I just got a bad read off the bat and just couldn't get to the ball in time," Young said. "I normally would make that play but just didn't get to it today. It ended up being a very big run for them because we would have tied the game in the ninth."

The speedy Furcal scored from second when Juan Pierre lined an RBI single to right field, making it 1-0. Arizona avoided further damage when Davis knocked down Russell Martin's hard-hit comebacker and made the play at first base to end the inning.

"I thought that I hit the ball hard enough for a hit up the middle, but (Davis) made a good play," Martin said. "It would have been a big run since the game was close, and a little more run support always helps pitchers."

Davis escaped another jam in the following frame after allowing a pair of walks and a long single to load the bases with two outs. But the crafty lefthander retired Pierre on a groundout to keep the deficit at one run.

"It seemed like they had runners on base every inning," Davis said. "But I just had to make quality pitches to stop them from breaking open the game."

The Dodgers added an important insurance run in the eighth when Andre Ethier lined an RBI single to plate Martin, who ignited the rally with a two-out hit.

But the Diamondbacks got back the run against Saito in the following frame. Conor Jackson led off with a bloop hit to right field and advanced to second when Saito retired Orlando Hudson, who unsuccessfully attempted to bunt for a hit.

Eric Byrnes halved the deficit by plating Jackson with an RBI hit, but rookies Carlos Quentin and Stephen Drew struck out to end the contest.

Hudson had a hit and a stolen base for Arizona, which managed just two runs and 10 hits over the final two games of this three-game set after posting a 9-1 victory in the opener.