Bench can’t help Dodgers turn it around in 2-0 loss to Pirates

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Joe Torre loves his bench players. That’s what he says. Not sure what else he really could say, but he does play them a lot.

They’re just not playing much for him. Certainly he didn’t get much from them Thursday night in the Dodgers’ weak 2-0 loss to the Pirates, their fifth consecutive defeat.

Injuries to starters Manny Ramirez and Rafael Furcal have sent out calls to the role players. They’ll answer any time now.

Garret Anderson got the start in left field for Manny and went 0 for 4. Not that that should come as some surprise. Anderson is in an 0-for-15 stretch. His batting average has plummeted to .125.

Doug Mientkiewicz, come back; all is forgiven.

Jamey Carroll started for Furcal at shortstop and went 0 for 3 and left four runners in scoring position. He is batting .212 and has yet to drive in a run in this season in 33 at-bats.

The other two main bench players can offer some better numbers, but it’s not like Reed Johnson and Ronnie Belliard have been tearing it up.

Johnson grounded out as a pinch-hitter Thursday, but he has been solid. He is hitting a respectable .282, with two doubles and two triples in 39 at-bats.

Belliard started the season on fire and was hitting .423 on April 23. Since then, he’s gone 0 for 12.

The bench, however, can only partially explain the Dodgers’ incredibly shrinking offense.

The Dodgers have lost seven of their last eight games.

Along the way they presented first major league wins to Cincinnati’s Mike Leake and Washington’s Luis Atilano, turned things around for New York’s struggling John Paine (0-1, 8.64 earned-run average) and, Thursday, for Pittsburgh’s Brian Burres (13-20, 5.99 ERA in 42 previous career starts).

-- Steve Dilbeck