Victory Looks Fine to Dodgers

It wasn’t the hardest batted ball that Eric Karros has ever had for a game-winning hit, but he’ll definitely take it.

Karros’ ninth-inning dribbler Saturday night had just enough spin on it to make its way to the outfield and bring home Shawn Green, who was running on the full-count pitch, to give the Dodgers a 13-12 victory over the Florida Marlins in front of 35,583 at Dodger Stadium.

“We won, that’s it,” said Karros, who went two for six with a solo home run in the second inning. “The bottom line is wins and losses. It doesn’t matter how you win. There’s no such thing as winning ugly.”

Even if this victory was far from a thing of beauty.

The Dodgers blew a 10-2 lead in the fifth inning and closer Jeff Shaw gave up a game-tying solo homer to Derrek Lee with two out in the ninth to prolong the sublime affair, setting the stage for Karros’ winner.

Green started the ninth for the Dodgers with a single against Marlin reliever Antonio Alfonseca before Gary Sheffield, who had two homers, a double and five runs batted in, drew a walk.

With Karros, who was hitting .195 at the time, nursing a full count, Dodger Manager Davey Johnson had Green and Sheffield running with the pitch.

Marlin third baseman Mike Lowell moved toward third to cover the base when he saw the runners moving, leaving just enough room for Karros’ four-hopper to skip through.

Johnson downplayed his call.

“I’ve got a pull hitter up and they have to cover third,” he said. “I mean, I’ve got two guys who can run pretty good and I know they’ve got to cover third so . . . That’s probably the way the game should have ended. That had a little bit of everything.”

Indeed, all that was missing was a tent in this circus of a game that featured 25 runs, 29 hits, five errors and one bench-clearing incident that did not result in any punches, let alone pushes.

Shaw (1-1) got the victory. Dodger starter Darren Dreifort did not figure in the decision after giving up nine runs--only two were earned--on six hits while striking out three, walking two and hitting a batter in five innings. He threw 91 pitches, 55 for strikes.

He was staked to the 10-2 lead but gave up seven unearned runs in the fifth, when Dodger infielders committed two errors.

With the bases loaded, Cliff Floyd hit a grounder to second baseman Mark Grudzielanek. In trying to turn the double play, Grudzielanek threw the ball away, his throwing error allowing three Marlins to score.

Then, on consecutive pitches after being visited on the mound, Dreifort gave up homers to Lowell, a three-run shot to left field, and Lee, a blast to left-center.

Matt Herges, the 30-year-old rookie who had yet to be scored upon this season in 14 innings of relief work, added to his scoreless streak with a perfect sixth.

The Dodgers padded the lead with two runs in their half of the sixth against Marlin reliever Victor Darensbourg when pinch-hitter Geronimo Berroa singled in Adrian Beltre, who had a career-high three stolen bases, and Darensbourg uncorked a wild pitch with the bases loaded and Kevin Elster on third.

Normally sure-handed setup man Mike Fetters gave up two runs on five hits in the seventh and it would have been worse.

Fetters was bailed out when Sheffield nailed Lee at the plate with a throw home after a bases-loaded single by pinch-hitter Kevin Millar.

“That throw saved my life,” Fetters said. “It kept me from hanging myself tonight.”

Even with his three-for-four night at the plate with two walks, Sheffield was most proud of his throw, which temporarily kept the Marlins from pulling even.

“Sometimes I don’t feel like I get enough credit for my defense,” he said. “So I’ve just been working every day on it.”

Orel Hershiser came in for his second relief outing since July 9, 1989, and threw a perfect eighth against the top three batters in the Marlin lineup.

But it was Lee’s two-out, opposite-field solo shot to right center against Shaw that prolonged the game, which lasted 10 minutes short of four hours, and set the stage for Johnson’s strategy and Karros’ dribbler.

“It just goes to show you that even if you get leads like that, you’ve got to keep playing for nine innings,” Karros said. “They didn’t quit, and you’ve got to give that team a lot of credit.”