Saturday’s starter is still to be decided

WASHINGTON —  The Dodgers are officially undecided on who will start Saturday’s game in Pittsburgh, but they have a pretty good idea who it won’t be. Manager Grady Little said Tuesday it probably won’t be Chad Billingsley, nor is it likely to be anyone else currently on the major league roster.

The most logical candidate is left-hander Hong-Chih Kuo, who was sent down last week to stretch his arm out and get ready to start. But Kuo, who opened the season on the disabled list because of a strained shoulder, may have given the team pause when he was rocked for five runs in 4 2/3 innings in a triple-A start Monday.

“He’s still a work in progress,” Little said. “We’ll have to make a call whether to get him in there for Saturday or not.”

Right-hander D.J. Houlton is another possibility, but he started for Las Vegas on Tuesday and would be coming back on short rest.

“He’s pitching awfully well. He’s been very consistent,” said Little, who said Houlton is spotting his fastball much better than he did last season.

As for Billingsley, who came to spring training as a candidate for the fifth spot in the rotation but made the roster as a reliever, Little said he’s not stretched out enough to make a start. Besides, he has become valuable in long relief.

“You have to think about the situation in our bullpen,” Little said. “A quality innings-eater, I would call him.”

The Dodgers have been short a fifth starter since demoting ineffective Brett Tomko to the bullpen last week. And whomever wins the spot may not be there long. Right-hander Jason Schmidt, sidelined since mid-April because of right shoulder bursitis, will make a minor league rehab start for Class-A Inland Empire today and, if all goes well, could be back with the Dodgers by late June.

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The Dodgers used four relievers in Sunday’s 11-inning win over the Cubs, but closer Takashi Saito was not among them. Saito, who has thrown only nine pitches in the last week, said a sore arm persuaded him to ask Little for the day off.

“It was nothing like pain or anything. It was more like an odd feeling,” Saito said through interpreter Scott Akasaki. “I think I could have pitched. But if I did do that, it would have been a longer recovery time.”

Although Saito had pitched only twice in the five days before to Sunday, he said he had warmed up in five consecutive games and that left him a little arm weary.

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With an eighth-inning run-scoring double, Rafael Furcal extended his hitting streak to 14 games, one short of his career high.... First baseman Nomar Garciaparra, second baseman Jeff Kent and catcher Russell Martin all rank among the top five vote-getters at their positions in the first results of fan balloting for the National League All-Star team.... A group of Dodgers players and coaches are scheduled to visit wounded veterans from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan at the Walter Reed Medical Center today. On Thursday, a Dodgers delegation was expected to tour the Pentagon.

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com