Painstaking Homer by Guerrero Gives Dodgers a 5-4 Win

The scene did not fit the moment, which should have been seen by millions on a World Series stage in October but instead was played out before acres of vacant seats in Three Rivers Stadium in July.

But it fit the man.

When Pedro Guerrero remained in the batter’s box Wednesday night in the fifth inning after hitting his 21st home run of the season--this one a two-run shot that ultimately gave the Dodgers a 5-4 win over the Pirates--it was not out of a Reggie Jackson-like sense of timing. Nor was it simply out of a sense of awe, a chance to watch what one swing had wrought as the ball disappeared into the lower deck in left-center field, 430 feet away, erasing a 4-3 Pirate lead.

Guerrero remained transfixed at the plate because it hurt too much to do anything else. He didn’t follow the flight of the ball, for the pain wouldn’t allow him to raise his eyes that high.

The muscle spasms that gripped his right side held Guerrero prisoner even as he finally shuffled down the line, knowing that he only had to reach first base for it to count as a hit. Only then did he realize that he had hit a home run when he probably should never have left the trainer’s table on which he had been lying only moments before.

“Manny Mota (the first-base coach) told me, ‘It’s outta here,’ ” Guerrero said later, face down on the rubbing table where he had retired after his dramatic at-bat. “He told me, ‘Just go slow.’ ”

People have gone to the electric chair faster than Guerrero circled the bases, Bob Hertzel of the Pittsburgh Press noted later. This was not a home-run trot, this was a home-run crawl. One writer timed Guerrero’s trip at 40 seconds.

“I couldn’t even touch the bases with my right leg,” Guerrero said.

He didn’t stop. “But I was thinking about it,” said Guerrero, who crossed the plate, then was assisted off the field by trainer Charlie Strasser, Manager Tom Lasorda and catcher Steve Yeager.

He may have thought about pausing on the basepaths, but apparently, it never occurred to Guerrero to pass up the time at-bat, even though the spasms had struck with a vengeance the inning before while he chased down Johnny Ray’s double into the left-field corner.

“I couldn’t even pick up the ball,” Guerrero said. “I called (Ken Landreaux) over and I told him, ‘Anything that’s hit over here, you’ve got to get it, because I can’t move.’

“As soon as we got three outs, I came inside (the clubhouse) and told (trainer Bill) Buhler. We did some exercises, but it didn’t help.

“He said, ‘I’m going to tell Tommy.’ I said, ‘Let me walk up there and take one swing, find out if I can swing the bat.’ And that’s what I did, one swing.

“I didn’t even have my batting stance. Usually I bend over the plate a little bit, but I had to stand straight up. I knew I hit it good, but all I did was drop my head, because it was a terrible pain.”

The spasms, which had bothered Guerrero periodically last season, had begun the night before, although Guerrero wasn’t quite sure what triggered it. “After the game, I had a hard time going to sleep,” he said.

Pirate Manager Chuck Tanner wished Guerrero had never gotten out of bed.

“Why the hell did he play for?” Tanner said.

Because that’s the way Guerrero is. When someone asked him if trainer Buhler had said how long it would be before he plays again, Guerrero answered: “No, because I’m the one who knows how long I’ll be out. I’m the one who has the pain. I’m the one who tells him.”

As winning pitcher Jerry Reuss, a former Pirate, tells it, few balls have been hit as hard here.

“I didn’t realize he was hurting that bad,” Reuss said, “but that was one of the damnedest things I’ve ever seen. I played here five years and I’ve only seen a half-dozen balls go out like that.

“(Willie) Stargell hit one off the bottom of the scoreboard once, but that ball (Guerrero’s) went out as quick as anything I’ve seen.”

It has taken a lot longer to get there, but at the halfway point of the season, the Dodgers trail first-place San Diego by just 1 1/2 games after winning for the ninth time in the last 11 games.

Someone said to Lasorda that Guerrero’s home run should have been hit in a World Series.

“Maybe,” Lasorda said, “it will be remembered as one that helped get us there.”

Dodger Notes Jerry Reuss was knocked around for four runs and five hits in the fourth inning but gave up just two other hits and struck out seven in his seven innings of work, raising his record to 7-6. “One bad inning,” Reuss said, “and I just had the sense I couldn’t work out of it.” After the Pirates scored twice, he almost did get out of it by striking out Jason Thompson and Tony Pena, but Marvell Wynne and Sammy Khalifa followed with run-scoring singles. In the fifth, Reuss started the game-winning rally with a 3-and-2 base hit up the middle that nearly scalded losing pitcher Lee Tunnell (0-6). “I must have fouled off six pitches,” Reuss said, “then I fouled one off to center field.” . . . Len Matuszek, obtained from Toronto in the Al Oliver trade, arrived just before game time but did not play. “I’m still surprised,” Matuszek said. “I had no indication. Bobby Cox (the Blue Jays’ manager) kind of expressed a little surprise, too.” The Dodgers say they plan to use Matuszek in the outfield as well as first base. “I don’t have a whole lot of experience other than at first base,” Matuszek said. “I played one game in the outfield last year (for the Phillies). It was against the Dodgers. The first ball they hit went over my head.” . . . In a bizarre play in the fourth inning that cost the Dodgers a run, Ken Landreaux was called out at first by umpire Lanny Harris, who ruled that Landreaux showed intent to go to second after skipping around first baseman Jason Thompson when Thompson bobbled his ground ball. Landreaux had stepped around Thompson, but when Thompson tagged Landreaux on his way back to first, Harris signaled an out. At the time, Mariano Duncan was standing at second base. “Where was I going to go?” said Landreaux, who also was robbed of extra bases by right fielder George Hendrick’s leaping catch the next inning. “The umpire said I didn’t know where the ball was. What was he doing, reading my mind? I knew where the ball was. Jason had the ball. I just went around the tag.” . . . Bob Bailor was activated Wednesday, on his 34th birthday.