For Dodgers, Game Runs Too Long : Lasorda’s Would-Be 2-0 Win Turns Into 5-2 Loss to Reds

Thursday’s game had been over for more than two hours when Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda made an unscheduled appearance in the press box to use the telephone.

He also wondered why all the reporters were still working on the grisly account of another Dodger loss, this time a 5-2 setback at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds before a crowd of 35,207 at Dodger Stadium. So, Lasorda offered some help.

“Listen, if this was like those games in the minors that are seven innings, we would have beaten those guys,” the eternally optimistic Lasorda said.

Unfortunately for the Dodgers, the eighth inning proved to be their undoing. The Reds overcame a 2-0 deficit by scoring five runs off Dodger starter Orel Hershiser in the eighth to remain in a first-place tie in the National League West with the Giants and drop the fourth-place Dodgers eight games behind.

But are the Dodgers worried?

Once again, they dismissed a demoralizing loss by saying that there are a lot of games to play, that this is no time to panic and that contention in the weak National League West race still is within reach.

Lasorda and others were reviving those familiar themes Thursday.

“How many times can we say this?” Dodger third baseman Mickey Hatcher asked. “Well, as long as no team in the division wants to take advantage and eliminate us, we still have to think positive.

“I hate to say this, but we could be 35 games out, but we aren’t. That says something about our division. It would be amazing if we got a hot streak going and got back into it.”

There is some element of truth in what Hatcher said, which is a clear indictment of the division.

Games like this, however, show why the Dodgers remain well behind the leaders and don’t figure to make a move unless things change drastically. The Dodgers embark today on a 13-game trip that begins against the Giants and continues in the East.

Beyond their usual failings, the Dodgers will also have to play without several of their regulars.

Shortstop Dave Anderson (left hamstring strain) and third baseman Jeff Hamilton (left ankle sprain) were added to the club’s bulging list of disabled players Thursday. Infielder Craig Shipley was recalled from San Antonio Thursday, and outfielder Chris Gwynn will be recalled from Albuquerque today.

The situation looks as bleak as ever--except to the Dodgers.

“The split (against the Reds) does us absolutely no good, but we’ve still got a lot of games left,” Lasorda said. “We’ve got three big ones in San Francisco coming up.”

A third straight victory over the Reds seemed attainable Thursday. As they so often have, though, the Dodgers found a way to lose.

Despite struggling for control in the early going, Hershiser had persevered and took a 2-0 lead into the eighth inning. The only runs the Dodgers figured they needed came in the sixth, when Mike Scioscia doubled and Mariano Duncan hit a home run to right field off Red starter Tom Browning.

But the Reds sent Hershiser and the Dodgers careening back to reality in the eighth.

Cincinnati’s comeback began when leadoff hitter Kal Daniels hit a homer to left field, cutting the lead to 2-1. One out later, Buddy Bell singled to center, then pinch-hitter Paul O’Neill doubled to right, sending Bell to third.

Lasorda had relievers Brian Holton and Matt Young ready in the bullpen. But he chose to stay with Hershiser, who had stranded Red runners in scoring position in five of the previous seven innings.

That decision looked good when Hershiser struck out Barry Larkin for the second out. But pinch-hitter Tracy Jones singled to center, scoring Bell and O’Neill for a 3-2 Red lead. Kurt Stillwell followed with a triple to right field that scored Jones and finally forced Lasorda to lift Hershiser.

In came Young, followed by the fifth Cincinnati run. Pinch-hitter Dave Concepcion hit a high-chopping ground ball that eluded Young, Hatcher and Duncan to score Stillwell from third.

Former Dodger John Franco pitched the uneventful eighth and ninth innings to earn his 21st save. The win went to Rob Murphy, who had pitched a scoreless seventh.

Franco had saves in both of the Reds’ victories over the Dodgers in this series.

Hershiser had a complete-game win over the Reds last week in Cincinnati, even though he did not have his best stuff. He struggled again Thursday, but it appeared as though he again would outlast Red hitters.

Hershiser struggled with his control, especially in the early innings. He allowed five walks in the first five innings. Even in a good inning such as the sixth, when he retired the Reds in order, Hershiser still had full counts on all three batters.

“That just shows you what a great pitcher Orel is,” Scioscia said. “To go out there without your best stuff against a great hitting team like the Reds and almost pull out a win tells you something.

“But you can’t give a good hitting team like that too many chances.”

Hershiser was aware of that. But he said that he made mostly good pitches in the Reds’ explosive eighth inning.

“(Jones) hit a good pitch, and there’s nothing you can do about that,” Hershiser said. “Bell fisted that ball up the middle. But it looked like I was going to get out of it (when he struck out Larkin). I’d throw that same ball again to Jones.

“I just didn’t have any control early. But I was able to get out of it. It was a battle the whole game. Browning was able to get out of a lot of stuff, too.”

Browning, not involved in the decision, made his mistake with two out in the sixth, after Scioscia reached second base on a line drive that a diving Eric Davis couldn’t hold in center. With first base open and Hershiser on deck, Rose instructed Browning to pitch around Duncan, who had singled twice earlier.

So, what happened?

Duncan lined Browning’s first pitch over the right-center-field fence for a 2-0 lead.

The Reds, however, were able to overcome their mistakes. The Dodgers, once again, could not.

Dodger Notes The Dodgers Thursday signed veteran right-handed relief pitcher Ron Davis, 32, to a Triple-A contract in Albuquerque. Davis was released by the Cubs on Aug. 7 with a 5.85 earned-run average in 21 appearances. . . . The Dodgers had to do some creative rearranging on the disabled list to make room for Dave Anderson (left hamstring strain) and Jeff Hamilton (left ankle sprain). The changes: Len Matuszek (foot surgery) was moved from the 21-day list to the 60-day list; Brad Wellman (eye laceration) went from the 15- to 30-day list; and Brad Havens (left rib cage strain) from the 15- to 21-day list. . . . X-rays on Phil Garner’s left rib cage, which he bruised in his Jacuzzi on Tuesday night, were negative. Garner said he is ready to play. . . . The Dodgers had plenty of minor league outfield candidates to recall--Jose Gonzalez, Reggie Williams, Ralph Bryant, among them--but decided on Chris Gwynn, who was hitting .280 with 40 RBIs and 5 home runs in Albuquerque. Vice President Fred Claire said he picked Gwynn because he feels he is the best hitter among minor league outfielders. “We need that now,” Claire said of Gwynn, younger brother of San Diego outfielder Tony Gwynn. “He’s a line-drive hitter, disciplined. In the games I’ve seen him play, he’s impressed me. There were other options. Ralph (Bryant) can hit for power more, but Chris has been more consistent at the plate.” Gwynn becomes the 15th member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic team to make it to the major leagues. . . . The Dodgers have given center fielder John Shelby permission to miss tonight’s game to be with his wife, Trina, when she delivers the couple’s second child. Doctors are planning to induce labor today. . . . Mike Marshall had the plaster splint removed from his left wrist Thursday and will hit on Saturday in San Francisco.