Howie Kendrick/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Dodgers

L.A. Dodgers second baseman Howie Kendrick was having a fine season, until he went down with a hamstring injury nearly six weeks ago. The Dodgers on Friday activated Kendrick, who had not played since Aug. 9.

That brought a smile to the face of manager Don Mattingly, who did not start Kendrick in Friday’s series opener with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but declared him 100 percent ready to roll.

“We’re just kind of looking at it like we’ve gotta get him back in,” Mattingly said. “He’s not going to go play rehab games, so we’re going to try to not just throw him out there every day.

“He’s basically under no restrictions, he can do anything, nobody’s telling me how to use him or whatever. But I know we do want to be careful with him as far as getting him back in there, not being four or five days in a row.”

Kendrick had been an integral part of the team’s offense. He still leads the team with a .296 batting average. He also has nine home runs and 49 RBIs and an on-base-percentage of .341.

Mattingly considered starting Kendrick on Friday.

“A little bit, but then we’re just kind of looking at both lefties,” he said of Pirates southpaws Jeff Locke and Francisco Liriano, Friday’s and Saturday starting pitchers, respectively. “You never know how the game’s going to go, (but) Liriano’s been a lot tougher on lefties, so if we’re going to try to go every other (day) a little bit to get Howie going, this lefty (Locke) is a lot better for us matchup-wise than tomorrow’s lefty is for Chase (Utley).”

Utley, a left-handed hitter, started Friday at second base against Locke.

The Dodgers went 22-12 without Kendrick.