LOS ANGELES _ For 22 days, Rich Hill existed as a Los Angeles Dodger in name only. He wore the uniform of the franchise but never graced the field. On two occasions, the team scheduled him to start a game only to scratch him due to a blister on his left hand. The only competitive outing he threw for the team was a simulated outing at dusk in the desert.
The wait ended on Wednesday night in a 1-0 victory over San Francisco, as the Dodgers bested their division foes thanks to six scoreless innings from Hill. His performance reminded why the front office of Andrew Friedman targeted him in the first place.
Wielding a curveball unseen in this ballpark since Clayton Kershaw injured his back, Hill looked like an antidote to the travails of the rotation. He induced soft contact, scattering five singles and never allowing a Giant to reach third base. He operated with efficiency, needing 81 pitches for 18 outs.
A day after roughing up Madison Bumgarner and plating nine runs, the offense for the Dodgers (71-55) consisted of a solo home run by Justin Turner and little else. The output was enough to increase the team's lead in the National League West to three games.
The Dodgers acquired Hill three weeks ago at the Aug. 1 trade deadline. He arrived as a damaged asset, still nursing the blister on his left middle finger. The blister burst during a five-pitch outing for Oakland on July 17, which forced Hill onto the disabled list. But the Dodgers believed his upside exceeded the rest of the pitchers available on the affordable end of the trade market, even after his lengthy layoff.
"I know he's going to go out there and compete," manager Dave Roberts said a few hours before the game. "I don't know how perfect he's going to be. Obviously, he's going to expect the best of himself, as all competitors do. I know he's going to give us a chance to win the game tonight."
A journeyman for the first decade of his career, Hill refashioned himself into a front-line starter late in 2015. A four-outing cameo with Boston earned him a $6 million contract with Oakland for this season. Across his 14 starts with Oakland, Hill posted a 2.25 earned-run average and struck out more than a batter per inning.
The Dodgers thirst for competence from their starting staff. On Tuesday afternoon, the team disabled Scott Kazmir and Brett Anderson. Brandon McCarthy is rehabilitating a hip injury. Kershaw is still weeks away from returning. The rotation is held together by rookies, bubblegum and Bud Norris.
So Hill was a welcome sight for the franchise. He walked out of the dugout by himself at 7:07 p.m. Three minutes later, he fired his first pitch as a Dodger. It was a fastball, clocked at 91 mph, located a few inches outside the zone. He required 16 pitches to complete the first inning, as he worked around two-out singles by catcher Buster Posey and outfielder Hunter Pence.
The second single annoyed the Dodgers. Pence topped the baseball toward third base and narrowly beat Turner's throw. But the hit allowed Hill to create a highlight. He froze shortstop Brandon Crawford with an 0-2 curveball, thrown from a sidearm delivery. The pitch resembled a Frisbee as it bent away from Crawford and into Yasmani Grandal's glove.
Hill skipped off the mound and into his dugout. He relies upon the production of preposterous movement. His arsenal is not deep: Nearly 90 percent of the pitches he has thrown in 2016 classify as either fastballs or curveballs.
Hill found a worthy adversary on Wednesday in the form of Giants starter Johnny Cueto, the tempo-disrupting, rump-shaking right-hander. Cueto kept the Dodgers hitless through the first three innings. He lost his chance for a no-hitter and his bid at a shutout with one swing in the fourth.
Turner came up with one out. He passed on a pair of sliders, one a ball, the other a strike. He did not show restraint on a third slider. Turner pulled the pitch over the left-field fence for his 24th home run of the season.
The offense could not generate much more. They did not need to do anything else. Hill retired the final eight batters he faced. In the dugout after the sixth, he conferred with Roberts. Hill had not pitched deep into a game since July 7, and the Dodgers plan to use him every fifth day into October.
The two men shook hands. The rest of his teammates congratulated him on his effort. For 22 days, Hill had resided on the periphery of this roster, unable to aid his team's efforts. On his first official night as a Dodger, no man was more important.
