PHOENIX, Aug. 7 (UPI) — Nathan Eovaldi fired five efficient innings in his major league debut Saturday, pacing the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 5-3 victory over Arizona.

Eovaldi (1-0), 21, stifled the Diamondbacks on two runs on four hits while striking out seven and walking two.

The right-hander, an 11th-round Dodgers draft pick in 2008, made the start in place of rookie Rubby De La Rosa, who is expected to have Tommy John surgery next week.

Rod Barajas went 3-for-4 and knocked in two runs while Andre Ethier added two hits for the Dodgers, winners of four of their last five.

Arizona’s Joe Saunders (8-9) couldn’t give the D-backs the boost they needed to move into a first-place tie atop the National League West with the San Francisco Giants, who lost Saturday to Philadelphia.

Saunders yielded four runs on eight hits while fanning four and walking one, but went 2-for-2 with two RBI.

LOS ANGELES (AP)—The Washington Nationals were on their way to their first
one-run victory since July 6, when hard-throwing reliever Henry Rodriguez(notes) got a
little too far behind one of his heavy fastballs and threw it to the backstop
with Rafael Furcal(notes) at the plate and a runner at third base.

The wild pitch in the seventh inning enabled the Los Angeles Dodgers to tie
the score, and Furcal hit an RBI double with one out in the ninth to sent the
Nationals to a 7-6 loss on Saturday night.

Trailing 6-5, Los Angeles loaded the bases in the sixth. But James Loney(notes)
grounded out against Rodriguez, who had given up a single to Matt Kemp(notes) and a
walk to Juan Rivera(notes) after following Ross Detwiler(notes) out of the bullpen.

The Dodgers got another chance in the seventh, however. Dioner Navarro(notes) drew
a one-out walk before pinch-runner Eugenio Velez(notes) stole second and took third on
a hit-and-run comebacker to Rodriguez. The 24-year-old right-hander then fell
behind Furcal 3-0 before walking him with a pitch that sailed over Wilson Ramos’(notes)
head, allowing Velez to score.

Rodriguez has a team-high nine wild pitches in 35 2-3 innings, two more than
he had last season with Oakland in just 27 2-3 innings. His fastball has been
clocked in triple digits, and harnessing all that power can be a problem for a
young pitcher.

“He’s a young guy who throws real hard, and he has a tendency to want to
let everything go. But that’s part of the package with a guy like that,”
Nationals pitching coach Steve McCatty said. “You just talk to him about
slowing everything down in his head, focusing on what he’s doing and trusting
himself to make pitches. You have to convince him that 98 and 97 is still pretty
good, and that he just has to throw strikes. It’s a work in progress.”

Rod Barajas(notes) led off the ninth with a single against Ryan Mattheus(notes) (2-2) and
was forced at second when Ramos jumped on Trent Oeltjen’s(notes) attempted sacrifice
bunt and made a one-hop throw that shortstop Ian Desmond(notes) dug out of the dirt
with his foot on the bag. But Jamey Carroll(notes) singled and Furcal drove a 2-0 to
the gap in left-center to bring home Oeltjen.

“That was awesome,” Oeltjen said. “Furky came through big at the end.
He’s been unlucky with some injuries this year, so it’s huge for him and huge
for this team to get us going. I hope we can take off from here and keep it
going.”

Dodgers rookie closer Javy Guerra(notes) (2-0) pitched one inning for the victory,
helping send the Nationals to their seventh straight loss in one-run decisions
after winning 12 of their previous 14 under those circumstances.

“We’re just kind of spinning our wheels a little bit right now,” right
fielder Jayson Werth(notes) said. “We’re playing good baseball, but we’re just on the
wrong side of things. Every night we feel like we’re going to score a bunch of
runs. We’re just one swing away.”

Washington starter Tom Gorzelanny(notes) threw 66 pitches over three innings in his
second-shortest outing this season, after pitching only two innings last Sunday
in Atlanta and tweaking his right ankle in a collision with Braves catcher Brian
McCann(notes). The Dodgers got five runs and eight hits against the left-hander, who
departed with a one-run lead.

“I don’t think there were any effects at all from the ankle,” McCatty
said. “When he warmed up in the bullpen, his ankle was fine and there were no
problems. It’s just that his ball was up.”

Dodgers lefty Ted Lilly(notes) gave up six runs and eight hits in five innings, and
is 1-5 with a 7.47 ERA over his last seven outings. He struck out six and did
not allow a homer for the first time in his last six outings.

The Nationals staked Gorzelanny to a 6-2 lead with three runs in the first
inning and three more in the third. But the Dodgers got three in the bottom of
the third, as Loney hit a sacrifice fly and Lilly hit a two-run double with two
outs after an intentional walk to Navarro.

“Fortunately I was able to help with the bat, because I put us in a big
hole,” Lilly said. “We were able to come back, in large part due to the work
the bullpen did. Then obviously we got some clutch hits as the game went on.”

Washington scored its first three runs when Werth followed an RBI double by
Michael Morse(notes) with a two-run double. After the Dodgers chipped away with runs in
the first two innings, the Nats came back in the third as Rick Ankiel(notes) doubled
home a pair and scored on a hit-and-run infield single.

“We had a pretty standard approach against Lilly,” Werth said. “We’ve
seen him a lot before, so you know what you’re getting yourself into, and we
jumped out ahead. But they kept battling back all game, and our inability to
tack on runs after the third was the difference. When you don’t score any more
runs, it’s tough to win ballgames like that.”

Notes: Saturday marked what would have been the 75th birthday of Hall of
Fame pitcher and former Dodgers broadcaster Don Drysdale. The Dodgers were in
Montreal, the Nationals’ former home, to play the Expos on July 3, 2003, when
Drysdale was found dead in his hotel room at age 56 after suffering a heart
attack. Ann Meyers-Drysdale was on hand Saturday with their sons, D.J. and
Darren, each of whom threw out a ceremonial first pitch. The Dodgers’ grounds
crew painted Drysdale’s No. 53 on the back slope of the mound. … Dave Van
Horne, who did play-by-play for the Expos during their first 32 seasons, was
inducted into the Hall of Fame on Saturday in a ceremony at Doubleday Field in
Cooperstown, N.Y. It was the first time that the winner of the annual Ford C.
Frick Award was enshrined the day before the players were.

Published: Saturday, March 19, 2011, 1:50 AM     Updated: Saturday, March 19, 2011, 1:55 AM

LOS ANGELES – Former Great Lakes Loons star Jerry Sands was the Los Angeles Dodgers’ top hitter this spring.

But that didn’t keep the Dodgers from sending him back to the minors, either at Double A or Triple A.

The Dodgers made it official, although it probably wasn’t easy. Sands hit .364 with a .773 slugging percentage during the spring. Instead, the Dodgers will go with Jay Gibbons, Marcus Thames and Tony Gwynn Jr. in left field.

latimes.com: For now, let him develop. It would help if they felt certain which position was in his future. Outfield or first base (James Loney is 26), or do they try to groom him to take over for Casey Blake at third?

The Dodgers’ pipeline has dried up the past few years, but Sands could lead the next wave. If they just give him a little time.

Published: Saturday, March 19, 2011, 1:29 AM     Updated: Saturday, March 19, 2011, 1:37 AM

LOS ANGELES – Former Great Lakes Loons pitcher Rubby De La Rosa probably will not break camp with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

De La Rosa, 22, is expected to begin the season in Triple A, even though he was wowed the Dodgers during spring training, including pitching coach Rick Honeycutt.

This spring, De La Rosa has allowed two runs in 10 innings, with seven strikeouts and three walks.

De La Rosa began in the 2010 season in the Loons’ bullpen, where he struggled. But once he was put into the starting rotation, De La Rosa’s prospects took off.

This spring, he’s allowed two runs in 10 innings for a 1.80 ERA with seven strikeouts and three walks (all Friday).

He was 4-1 with a 3.19 ERA at Great Lakes, then was promoted to Double A Chattanooga, where he was 3-1 with a 1.41 ERA.

mlb.com: When asked if De La Rosa was reminiscent of Kershaw, Honeycutt said: “Yeah, he’s got a lot of positives. A plus arm, ‘pitchability.’ A little wild with the fastball at times, but he always came back. The changeup is filthy. If I had that, I wouldn’t throw anything else. But he can throw 97 [mph]. The one thing is throwing consistently for strikes. But a 20-year-old won’t have everything figured out.”

Kansas City Royals shortstop Irving Falu begins a fruitless dive-attempt on a single by Los Angeles Dodgers’ Marcus Thames in the fourth inning of a spring training baseball game in Surprise, Ariz., Saturday, March 12, 2011. Photo by The Associated Press.

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — For Ted Lilly, the only good thing was another outing in a couple days.

Lilly was hit hard as a Los Angeles Dodgers split-squad lost 19-7 Saturday to the Kansas City Royals.

Alex Gordon homered and drove in six runs for Kansas City, which finished with 20 hits. Melky Cabrera went 2-for-3 and drove in three runs while raising his Cactus League-leading batting average to .518.

Lilly allowed six runs and five hits in 22⁄3 innings. He struck out two and walked two.

“Positives, I’ll have to think about it for a while,” he said. “I’ll try hard. I’m looking forward to the next four days going by as fast as possible.”

Lilly went 10-12 with a 3.62 ERA in 30 starts for the Cubs and Dodgers last season. He re-signed with the Dodgers after becoming a free agent. The 35-year-old left-hander threw 59 pitches Saturday, 36 for strikes.

Gordon hit a two-run single in the third, doubled home Cabrera in the fourth and belted a three-run homer in the seventh.

“Actually the base hit on two strikes on a high breaking ball to left field was just as pretty as the one he hit four miles,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Alex is pretty dialed in.”

Gordon hit the first pitch he saw from Oscar Villarreal out to deep right.

“The ball flies here in Arizona and the wind was blowing out so it felt good,” Gordon said.

Clint Robinson, who won the 2010 Texas League Triple Crown, homered and drove in three runs for Kansas City, but was optioned to Triple-A Omaha after the game.

“When you’re in the cleanup spot, you’re there to drive in runs,” Robinson said. “When you get opportunities, you’ve got to capitalize on them.”

Jason Kendall caught three innings in a Royals minor league game, his first game action since having shoulder surgery in September.