And in other news, Joe Kelly also pitched a scoreless inning.

Kelly took on folk-hero status taking on the Astros with an attitude in Tuesday night’s 5-2 Dodgers win and sparking a dugout-clearing incident with trash talk, but he also was part of a tag-team bullpen performance that neutralized the Astros' potent lineup and gave a glimpse into why manager Dave Roberts has been insisting that relief will be a team strength this year.

• Box score

After Walker Buehler’s 3 2/3-inning season debut put the Dodgers down, 2-0, and shortstop Corey Seager made a diving catch on former Dodger Josh Reddick’s line drive to end the fourth inning and save a run, Roberts trotted out a parade of pitchers that shut down Houston on one hit over the final 5 1/3 innings.

First, it was rookie Brusdar Graterol, firing triple-digit sinkers in a two-strikeout inning. Kelly overcame a pair of four-pitch walks to put up a zero. Caleb Ferguson, showing off his improved breaking ball, struck out the side. Reclamation project Blake Treinen’s sinker accounted for three groundouts in a scoreless eighth and closer Kenley Jansen pitched around a double by Carlos Correa for his first save of the year.

“Fergy was as good as we’ve seen him in quite some time, that was really good to see,” said Roberts. “Treinen was good and then Kenley. It was really good tonight.”

It needed to be, because starting for the Dodgers was Buehler, who was behind schedule throughout Summer Camp and wasn’t expected to go deep. He showed flashes of brilliance, striking out three of the first eight batters and retiring 11 of the first 12.

But he also allowed a solo home run to Correa in the second inning and three consecutive baserunners with two outs in the fourth, including a four-pitch walk to Yuli Gurriel and Correa’s RBI single for the second run. Buehler was charged with two runs in 3 2/3 innings, making 56 pitches.

“In the fourth inning, don’t want to say I lost it, but pulled them or pushed them or whatnot,” said Buehler, who was pitching on his 26th birthday. “A little work in progress. Felt good for where my stuff is at. Wish I had gone a little deeper, but the bullpen did an unbelievable job to close them out.”

While the Dodgers were unleashing that overwhelming bullpen, the depleted Astros tried to rely on unproven commodities and in 4 2/3 innings, the Dodgers put nine runners on base, although they also stranded 11 in the game.