Hiroki Kuroda goes back to looking like Dodgers’ ace

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One of those things, an inevitable rough stretch, a minor detour … a serious concern?

Whatever it was, Hiroki Kuroda had not been the same guy of late. Certainly not the guy who started the season 5-1 with a 2.87 ERA.

Kuroda had lost his last three starts, fashioning a 6.19 ERA in the process. The one starter in the rotation the Dodgers thought they could count on, suddenly struggling.

Until Tuesday night.

Tuesday night, Kuroda looked a lot like the right-hander who began the season acting like an ace.

Kuroda threw seven shut-out innings against the Cardinals, holding them to four singles. He struck out six and walked only one.

“That was about as good a command as he’s had since the beginning of the season,” said manager Joe Torre.

Kuroda was throwing in the mid-90s and had his fastball, slider, curve and splitter all working.

“He was great today,” said catcher Russell Martin. “He had good velocity on his fastball, good movement too. He really had all his pitches working.

“From the first inning, he was throwing 95 and getting good sink. He can get away with just having that pitch alone. But when you have all those weapons to use, there are a lot of different things you can do to keep hitters off balance.”

It was the first time Kuroda pitched seven innings since his second start of the season.

-- Steve Dilbeck