LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers' starting pitching situation has reached epidemic proportions and it is threatening to run an improved bullpen right into the ground.

The latest stalled vehicle on the highway was Scott Kazmir's three-inning start Friday in what was an eventual 10-6 victory for the Dodgers, thanks to Yasmani Grandal's three home runs and another bullpen relay race.

Outside of Clayton Kershaw, now on the disabled list with a back injury, the Dodgers have not received a seven-inning outing from a starter since Kazmir went 8⅔ innings on May 14. The most recent Dodgers starter to throw a pitch in the seventh inning was Kershaw, on June 20.

That is a lot of mileage on a bullpen that has just one pitcher in a set role: closer Kenley Jansen.

Through it all, the Dodgers’ pitching staff has been able to hold its own. The starters have combined for a 3.76 ERA heading into play Friday, fifth-best in the National League, barely trailing San Francisco’s 3.53 mark.

And the bullpen has managed to get back on course with a major league-leading 2.85 ERA heading into Friday’s games, just ahead of Kansas City’s 2.87 mark. Dodgers relievers also led baseball in batting average against (.195) and WHIP (1.02).

“To kind of eat up six innings of baseball [Friday] was tough for any bullpen, and you look at it being three days removed from playing 14 innings,” manager Dave Roberts said about the marathon against the Baltimore Orioles earlier in the week, when the bullpen picked up nine of those innings.

At this point, though, the snow is accumulating rapidly on the warehouse roof.

Since June 1, the Dodgers’ bullpen has the second-most innings in baseball. Over the first two months of the season, the bullpen ranked 17th in total innings.

“It’s tough, it’s tough,” Roberts said. “I think those starters know that the onus is on them to set the tone, and when you have a taxed bullpen, and eight guys down there, and a four-man bench, there are some crazy things that can happen. It starts with those guys going deeper and they know that.”

Kazmir has been wildly inconsistent while fashioning a 4.52 ERA over a team-leading 18 starts. Five of his past seven starts have been five innings or fewer.

“Yeah, it’s been difficult and [the bullpen] has done a great job of stepping up,” Kazmir said. “For me, personally, I’d like to get deeper. Like tonight, I wanted to go back out there even though it wasn’t going well. I’d love to be able to shorten the game a little bit for the guys since they have been pushed hard in recent weeks. It just didn’t happen tonight.”

Success amid a heavy workload can’t last forever, but the Dodgers’ relievers have been able to push themselves. Louis Coleman gave up three runs in one inning of work, but the rest of the relievers avoided giving up a run over the final five innings.

The Dodgers entered with a 1.32 ERA over their seven games this month, and Coleman’s three earned runs made that number rise to 1.80, still impressive under the circumstances.

Even while delivering his three home runs, on a career-best five-hit night, Grandal gave a shout out to the relievers.

“Obviously, Kaz didn’t have the best start of the year, but we got him through three, then the bullpen did a great job once again,” Grandal said. “Whenever we ask for someone to take the ball, they come in and do the job. I’m happy about that.”

Grandal might have hit three moon shots that totaled 1,249 feet, but Roberts called a one-pitch double play that Pedro Baez induced in the fifth inning as his play of the game. It not only stopped any Padres momentum, it gave Baez a positive result he needed amid recent struggles.

Jansen finished off the victory, even though it was a non-save situation. He offered his 35th scoreless appearance in his past 38 outings. Not needed was Adam Liberatore, whose 23 consecutive scoreless appearances are tied for the most in Dodgers history with John Candelaria.

“Those guys continue to do it,” said Roberts, knowing that the All-Star break, which begins Monday, is coming at a perfect time. “Kenley, in a non-save situation, to close out the game was big. All those guys, you can’t say enough about them.”