Valenzuela Goes to Bat to Get Himself a Win, 5-4

ATLANTA —  The long wait finally ended Wednesday night.

Fernando Valenzuela won for the first time in almost a year as the Dodgers defeated the Atlanta Braves, 5-4.

And Valenzuela, perhaps hurt the most by the Dodgers’ lack of offense this season, took it upon himself to make sure he had enough runs for his first victory since June 14, 1988, delivering a two-run single in the sixth inning to give the Dodgers a 5-1 lead.

The hit was his first since last July 20 and ended an 0-for-19 run this year that included strikeouts Wednesday night in his first two at-bats.

The runs batted in were his first since May 11, 1988.

“I think tonight everything came together for me,” Valenzuela said. “It was a big night for me.”

But it almost wasn’t enough.

When Valenzuela (1-5) left with one out in the seventh inning after allowing a double to Tommy Gregg, walking Andres Thomas and giving up a run-scoring single to Dale Murphy, the Dodgers led, 5-2.

But trouble lay ahead.

Ricky Horton got Darrell Evans to pop up, but Alejandro Pena, summoned next, gave up run-scoring singles to pinch-hitters Dion James and Jeff Wetherby. The latter, an outfielder from Kennedy High School in Granada Hills and USC, who was making his major league debut after being recalled from triple-A Richmond (Va.) Tuesday, lined a single to center field to make it 5-4.

Two pitches, two hits, two runs.

Good night, Alejandro.

Jay Howell, in the bullpen, barely had time to stand.

He wasn’t ready, he said, when he was called.

He must have been happy, then, when Jeff Treadwell bit on his first pitch, flying out to left field to end the threat.

“Real happy,” Howell said.

What was he thinking as he watched the Braves rally?

“Same old story,” he said. “The pattern has been, we’ve been ahead or we’ve been even in a lot of Fernando’s games and then they just kind of slip away from us.

“He gives us six (or) seven good, strong innings and then they somehow slip away. A majority of them have been close games.”

It looked as if the pattern might continue until Howell came on to retire seven of the eight batters he faced. “This was a real good one,” he said of his 11th save.

By that, Howell meant that it was especially satisfying to aid Valenzuela, who was winless in his previous 19 starts.

“It’s like he’s been under this glass case,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said of Valenzuela. “Every outing for him, there’s so much interest and concern. It’s been difficult on him.”

Making it all the more difficult was the Dodgers’ lack of productivity. In Valenzuela’s previous 10 starts this season, the Dodgers scored 20 runs, only 15 of them while Valenzuela was still in the game.

Against Zane Smith, they padded that total, getting run-scoring singles from Jeff Hamilton and John Shelby and an RBI double from Kirk Gibson before Valenzuela delivered the key blow in a four-run sixth.

The loss was the ninth in 10 decisions for Smith, who leads the major leagues in losses.

That mattered little to Valenzuela, who in his last start faced Mike Scott of the Houston Astros and lost, 1-0.

“He’s been throwing the ball exceptionally well,” catcher Rick Dempsey said. “He’s got good location. Freddy’s a battler. Even though he doesn’t have his best stuff, he easily could be 6-2 or 5-2.

“He puts the ball where he wants to and he doesn’t give the guys a real good chance to hit it. Once in a while, he makes a bad pitch, but he’s been pretty darn good, as good as any pitcher on our staff.”

This was far from Valenzuela’s best outing

Valenzuela, who allowed nine hits, walked four and struck out two in 6 1/3 innings, said his control has improved in recent weeks.

“The last three or four starts, I’ve thrown more strikes,” he said. “Before, I felt the same--I felt good--but I fell behind the hitters all the time and had to put the ball in the middle of the plate.”

Is this a new beginning?

“I hope,” he said. “I waited a long time for one win.”

Dodger Notes

After striking out three times against Fernando Valenzuela in a 6-1 Atlanta victory April 7, rookie Geronimo Berroa told a reporter: “I’ll get him next time.” Wednesday, Berroa singled in his first at-bat, and in the fourth inning, he hit his first major league home run over the left-field wall, barely missing a sign commemorating Hank Aaron’s record-breaking 715th homer. . . . The first batters facing Dodger reliever Alejandro Pena this season are 9 for 21 for a .429 batting average. . . . John Shelby was 2 for 26 on the trip before producing a run-scoring single in the sixth inning. . . . John Tudor, in a rehabilitation start at Vero Beach, Fla., waited out a rain delay of 3 hours 22 minutes before pitching five innings for the Class A Vero Beach Dodgers in a 7-1 victory over the Winter Haven Red Sox, allowing one hit, a home run, and striking out five and walking none.