Tracy Manages to Stay Perfect

Jim Tracy could get used to this.

The Dodger bench coach, assuming the managerial duties of the hospitalized Davey Johnson for the second consecutive game, is more comfortable with the on-the-field business than the pressing-of-the-flesh duties that come with such a position.

But if his moves and strategy continue to pay off, Tracy will have to get used to such frivolous tasks.

Monday night, it was a move Tracy didn’t make that set the Dodgers on their way to a 9-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second game of a three-game series before 25,261 at Dodger Stadium.

With the score tied, 3-3, with one out in the sixth inning and the bases loaded, Tracy let starting pitcher Darren Dreifort bat against left-handed Chris Peters, rather than going to his bench for a right-handed pinch-hitter like say, Jim Leyritz.

It worked.

Peters hit Dreifort on the left foot with a 1-and-2 pitch, forcing Eric Karros home for the lead.

A rattled Peters then walked Todd Hollandsworth on four pitches to score Chad Kreuter for a 5-3 Dodger lead.

And for all of those complaints that the Dodgers rely too much on the home run, they scored their runs in the inning without the benefit of a hit--the Pirates committed an error, walked three Dodgers and hit a batter.

Tracy is now 2-0 in his limited stint as acting manager for Johnson.

Leyritz got his shot later. Pinch-hitting in the seventh inning with two out and the bases loaded again, Leyritz stroked a two-run single to center.

Dreifort, stuck in a four-game losing streak, got the win and became the first Dodger starter other than Kevin Brown to win since June 18.

Dreifort (5-7) went seven innings and gave up three runs and four hits while striking out eight and walking two. He threw 110 pitches, 70 for strikes.

Jeff Shaw closed it out with 1 1/3 innings of one-hit ball for his 13th save, his first since June 18 and just his second since May 19.

Pirate rookie starter Bronson Arroyo (0-3) took the loss after being charged with five runs, four earned, and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out five and walked two.

The Dodgers (47-44) moved into sole possession of third place of the National League West, ahead of the reeling Colorado Rockies, who ended their 11-game losing streak Monday by splitting a doubleheader with the Oakland Athletics at Coors Field.

The Rockies visit Chavez Ravine for a two-game set Wednesday and Thursday.

Left fielder Gary Sheffield hit a two-run homer off Pittsburgh reliever Scott Sauerbeck in the eighth inning, his major league-leading 32nd.

It was also Sheffield’s fifth homer in his last five games and put him on pace for 57 on the season, which would easily break the franchise record of 43 set by Brooklyn’s Duke Snider in 1956.

Dreifort got off to an inauspicious start, walking the first two batters he faced before Pittsburgh cleanup hitter Brian Giles’ one-out double drove in a run.

Dreifort settled down and struck out Kevin Young and John Vander Wal to end the threat with runners at second and third.

The Dodgers took the lead with a three-run second inning.

With one out, Kevin Elster doubled to left, scoring Karros.

Two batters later, Hollandsworth stroked a two-run single to right for a 3-1 lead.

But the Pirates answered in the top of the third.

With two out, the left-handed hitting Giles hit a towering shot that cleared the left-center wall for a two-run home run.

The homer, which came on a first-pitch fastball from Dreifort, was Giles’ 22nd of the season, the 100th of his career, and tied the score at 3-3.

Shawn Green tried to regain the lead for the Dodgers in the bottom of the third.

Green, who has been slumping of late, laced a gapper to right-center and raced to third. Third-base coach Glenn Hoffman, seeing the Pittsburgh outfield having trouble with the ball, sent Green home, trying for an inside-the-park homer.

The relay throw, from center fielder Giles to second baseman Warren Morris to catcher Jason Kendall, was a bit up the third-base line.

But Kendall made a great play and reached back enough to tag out Green, who was in midair, diving headfirst.