For Once, Dodgers Get It Right Against a Lefty

It is not some mysterious coincidence, this business about the Dodgers’ continued trouble hitting left-handed pitching.

They simply have a lineup that is better suited to facing right-handers, illustrated by the fact that, going into Saturday night’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies, they had lost 5 of their previous 8 games against left-handed starters, including three straight.

But against Phillie left-hander Bruce Ruffin, the Dodgers used creative methods to make the most of 6 hits and eke out a 3-2 win before a crowd of 47,379 at Dodger Stadium.

Given only three runs with which to work, Dodger starter Don Sutton (3-2) made it through 5 innings and left holding a one-run lead.

Reliever Alejandro Pena then pitched 1 scoreless innings, and Jay Howell earned his third save by shutting down the Phillies in the eighth inning and striking out pinch-hitter Darren Daulton with two outs and a runner on third in the ninth.

Saturday night’s win snapped a three-game Dodger losing streak. It also was Sutton’s third win in his last four starts, as well as the Dodgers’ first win against a left-hander in nearly two weeks.

Although an offensive windfall did not come the Dodgers’ way against Ruffin (3-3), they scratched out just enough runs to support the good pitching of Sutton and the relievers.

They scored an unearned run in the second inning, using a passed ball and a well-placed groundout by Mike Scioscia to take a 1-0 lead.

The next inning, the Dodgers broke a 1-1 tie in somewhat unconventional fashion. After consecutive singles by Steve Sax and Mike Davis, hot-hitting Kirk Gibson laid down a sacrifice bunt that nudged Sax to third and Davis to second.

Sax then scored on Pedro Guerrero’s fly ball, and Davis scored the eventual winning run on Mike Marshall’s double in the right-center gap. Of the Dodgers’ five hits against Ruffin, Marshall’s was easily the hardest hit.

But the Dodgers had to be happy just to score three runs (one unearned) against the latest left- handed nemesis. In their previous three games against left-handers, the Dodgers had totaled just 7 earned runs and 15 hits.

After the third inning rally, the Dodgers did not get another hit off Ruffin, lifted for a pinch-hitter after six innings. They managed a ninth-inning single off reliever Greg Harris to finish the night with six hits--four less than the Phillies.

Sutton gave up single runs in third and sixth innings and might have lasted longer had he not thrown 27 of his 87 pitches trying to extricate himself from the third-inning jam.

When Sutton tired, Pena continued his excellent relief work. In 17 innings, Pena has allowed only 1 earned run, coming Wednesday night in a loss to Pittsburgh.

Howell retired the side in the eighth, but ran into problems in the ninth when Chris James singled with one out and advanced to third an out later with a stolen base and a Scioscia throwing error. But Howell struck out Daulton to earn the save.

Sutton made that long walk from the mound to the dugout in the sixth inning with a 3-2 lead, nodding his head and shaking his glove to appreciative fans. But the Dodger lead was in jeopardy.

It had been reduced to a run when, with two outs in the inning, Lance Parrish doubled down the left-field line. James then sent a hanging curve ball into left field for an RBI.

At that point, pitching coach Ron Perranoski made the change, bringing in Pena to face Steve Jeltz. It turned out to be a wise decision, Jeltz striking out on five pitches.

So, with Pena’s bailout and Howell’s save, Sutton won his second straight game. In his last four starts, Sutton has allowed 8 earned runs and 16 hits in 23 innings-- not extraordinary, but all right for someone 43 years old.

Sutton barely escaped a second-inning predicament that wasn’t totally his fault. A misplayed fly ball by Gibson in left field put Von Hayes on base, and a questionable decision by Griffin on Parrish’s grounder to deep shortstop put runners on first and third with one out.

Hayes was on second after stealing when Parrish hit his grounder. Griffin, figuring he couldn’t get Parrish at first, instead unsuccessfully threw to third trying to get Hayes.

But Sutton worked out of it, forcing James to pop to short. Then Jeltz hit a checked-swing slow roller down the third base line. Guerrero had no chance to throw out Hayes at home plate, so he picked up the ball bare-handed and made a good throw on the run to get Jeltz.

After the Dodgers pushed across a run in the bottom of the second, the Phillies retaliated by scoring an unearned run against Sutton.

The Dodgers’ run primarily was a result of Parrish’s passed ball that moved runners up a base to second and third with one out. The rally hit stride when, with Marshall on first after a fielder’s choice, John Shelby got his first hit since being activated from the disabled list on Thursday, moving Marshall to second.

Then, on Ruffin’s first pitch to Scioscia, the ball nicked the left side of Parrish’s glove and rolled toward the near end of the Dodger dugout, allowing Marshall to take third and Shelby second. Scioscia grounded to a charging Jeltz at shortstop. Jeltz looked home, but Marshall was too far down the line. So he settled for the out at first base, and the Dodgers had a run.

It did not take the Phillies long to even it. Philadelphia didn’t hit Sutton particularly hard this inning, either. With one out and Milt Thompson on first after a fielder’s choice, Thompson stole second and went to third when Scioscia’s throw bounced into center field. Bradley’s fly ball to left field scored Thompson to, at least momentarily, make it 1-1. After Philadelphia’s early rally to tie it, the Dodgers rebounded in the bottom of the third for two runs and a 3-1 lead. Consecutive hits by Sax and Davis began the rally, but the key play was Gibson’s sacrifice drag bunt on the first-base side that moved Sax to third and Davis second.

Three pitches later, Sax scored the Dodgers’ second run on Guerrero’s fly ball to right. The Dodgers then regained the lead, 3-2, on Marshall’s double into the right-center gap. The rally fizzled, however, when Shelby flied to right. But the 3-2 lead held up.