LOS ANGELES _ Brandon McCarthy may have treated his first big league game in more than 14 months like an ordinary start, but the result was extraordinary.
McCarthy's return from elbow ligament-replacement surgery couldn't have gone much better for the Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander, who allowed two hits in five scoreless innings, struck out eight and walked one in Sunday's 4-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium.
Trayce Thompson highlighted a three-run second inning with a solo home run, his 13th of the season. Justin Turner (single) and McCarthy (bases-loaded walk) also drove in runs in the inning. Yasmani Grandal added a solo shot in the seventh, his third homer in his last eight games and eighth on the season.
Adam Liberatore threw a scoreless sixth, Joe Blanton struck out the side in the eighth, and closer Kenley Jansen struck out three of four batters in the ninth for his 24th save for the Dodgers, who have won 14 of 19 games to move to a season-high 10 games over .500 (47-37).
McCarthy's first big league pitch since April 25, 2015, was a 91-mph fastball at the knees of Charlie Blackmon, who took it for a strike. McCarthy went on to strike out Blackmon and Carlos Gonzalez with 94-mph fastballs in the first.
McCarthy whiffed Daniel Descalso looking at a 94-mph fastball in the second and opposing pitcher Jon Gray looking at a 93-mph fastball in the third.
Gonzalez went down swinging at a curve in the dirt in the fourth, and McCarthy ended his outing with consecutive strikeouts of Cristhian Adames (94-mph fastball), Brandon Barnes (81-mph curveball) and Gray (93-mph fastball) in the fifth.
The only two hits McCarthy allowed were singles to DJ LeMahieu in the first and Blackmon in the third. He was pulled after 72 pitches, the same number he threw in his final minor league rehabilitation start last Monday, but he maintained the velocity of his fastball (91-94 mph) and showed good command throughout.
The performance provided another shot in the arm to a rotation that lost ace Clayton Kershaw to a herniated disk in his lower back last week.
In four starts since the Dodgers learned Kershaw would be placed on the disabled list, Kenta Maeda, Bud Norris, Scott Kazmir and McCarthy combined to go 4-0 with an 0.39 earned-run average, allowing one run in 23 innings, striking out 32, walking four and holding opposing hitters to a .130 mark (10 for 77).
