MLB Insiders - Los Angeles Dodgers

The Pirates head west to open a three game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the series opener on Monday night lefty Zach Duke will be on the hill for the Bucs. The Dodgers will toss right-hander Hiroki Kuroda.

After three impressive starts helped the Pirates to a sweep of the Cincinnati Reds over the weekend, they'll look to Zach Duke to make it four in a row on Monday when they open a three-game set with the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

Duke (0-0, 2.13 ERA) has pitched well twice but has yet to get a decision. He was especially impressive in his latest start, going seven innings while allowing just one run and striking out six on Wednesday, though Pittsburgh lost to the Cubs 6-4 in 15 innings.

Los Angeles (5-7) hasn't been kind to Duke in four career starts. The left-hander is just 1-3 with a 7.99 ERA against the Dodgers.

Hiroki Kuroda (1-1, 2.13) will make his third start for the Dodgers since signing as a free agent from Japan, and he's been solid in his first two appearances.

But after allowing one run in seven innings in his debut, he wasn't quite as sharp in his second, allowing four runs - two earned - in 5 2-3 innings to Arizona on Wednesday in a 4-3 loss.

Five days after his mechanics and rhythm were so out of whack that he couldn't get out of the third inning in an ugly loss at Arizona, Dodgers right-hander Chad Billingsley felt perfectly normal against San Diego on Sunday.

"I couldn't really get into a routine before my first start," Billingsley said after striking out eight batters in five innings and losing 1-0 to the Padres. "This start, I really worked on getting my timing back. Everything felt good. My timing was great, and that's all you really want. I'll just keep working and try to build off this."

Billingsley was supposed to make his first start of the season on April 2 against San Francisco, but manager Joe Torre made a switch about 20 minutes before first pitch because bad weather was in the forecast. Torre wound up bringing Billingsley out of the bullpen in that game, but he faced only four batters before a long rain delay and then didn't return.

Billingsley then made a two-inning relief appearance on April 4 before his ill-fated first start against the Diamondbacks four days later, when he was torched for five runs on five hits over 2 1/3 innings. But for Billingsley, that debacle amounted to hitting the reset button, because from there, he was able to get back into his normal, between-starts routine.

The result was a loss, one in which the winning run scored as the result of a leadoff walk in the fourth inning, but it was also much more than that for Billingsley.

"From last start to this start, I just worked on my timing and on keeping everything together," he said. "The other night, I was getting too quick at times and couldn't keep everything in sync with my delivery. I started pulling off, and the ball would go sailing."

Because Billingsley hadn't thrown more than 70 pitches in any previous appearance this season, and because he managed to throw 90 through the first five innings on a blazing-hot California day, Torre lifted him for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the fifth.

PADRES 1, DODGERS 0: The Dodgers went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, including a sure single by Russell Martin that would have scored Jeff Kent from second with two outs in the fourth that was taken away when Padres shortstop Khalil Greene made a diving stop behind the bag. The Dodgers struggled against Greg Maddux, but he was gone after five innings, and the Dodgers fared no better against the Padres' bullpen. The Dodgers are now hitting .251 for the season, including .231 with runners in scoring position.

--1B James Loney extended his career-best hitting streak to 12 games with a two-out double in the ninth. Loney had an eight-game streak snapped on the final day of last season, so he now has hit safely in 20 of his past 21 games, batting .390 (32-for-82) over that stretch.

--SS Rafael Furcal has a nine-game hitting streak, during which he is batting .394 (13-for-33). Furcal is hitting .391 for the season. He leads the club in average, runs, hits, doubles, triples and walks.

--2B Jeff Kent had a one-out double off Greg Maddux in the fourth inning, the 540th of Kent's career. Kent is now tied for 24th on the all-time doubles list with Dave Winfield and Joe Medwick. It was Kent's fifth extra-base hit of the season.

--3B Nomar Garciaparra began his rehabilitation assignment at Class AAA Las Vegas on Friday and went hitless in seven at-bats in his first two games, one as the designated hitter and one as the third baseman. Manager Joe Torre said he hopes Garciaparra can return in time for the start of a five-game trip on Friday night in Atlanta, but that it will only happen if Garciaparra feels comfortable he can play without re-injuring his right hand.

--RHP Jonathan Broxton struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth inning and now has 10 strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings over five games this season. Broxton has allowed just four hits and has a 1.69 ERA. He has issued just one walk.

BY THE NUMBERS: 245 -- Times a major league player has hit for the cycle in a four at-bat stretch over two games, something Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal did when he singled, doubled, tripled and walked twice in five plate appearances on Friday night against San Diego and then homered leading off the first inning of Saturday's game with the Padres. Only 116 players in big-league history have hit for the cycle within a single game.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "He was hitting the ball just as hard as he always had. But one thing he got caught up in was trying to hit home runs. I told him, 'James, you have a line-drive swing. You need to stay within yourself, and any home runs you hit will be a bonus. You're a good hitter.' He was trying to open some eyes in the organization, and he didn't have to do that." -- Dodgers hitting coach Mike Easler, who had the same role with Class AAA Las Vegas last year, recalling the less-than-stellar numbers put up by first baseman James Loney when he was surprisingly sent down to begin the season. Loney finally was called up on June 10 and proceeded to hit .331 with 15 homers -- 14 more than he had hit in 58 games with the 51s -- the rest of the way.