Pirate Rookie Hits His 1st Home Run to Beat Dodgers, 6-3

While Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda threw in everybody but the Marines against Pittsburgh Monday night, the Pirates struck back with a guy who actually played on the shores of Tripoli.

Pirates rookie shortstop Sammy Khalifa, who was born in nearby Fontana but arrived at Dodger Stadium by way of the desert--Egypt, Libya and Tucson, Ariz.--kicked a little sand in the Dodgers’ faces by hitting his first big-league home run, a three-run shot off reliever Bobby Castillo, in the Pirates’ 6-3 win over the Dodgers before a crowd of 29,888.

With Dodger starter Rick Honeycutt, now 6-9, unable to get through three innings for the second straight start, Lasorda cleared his bench, using four pitchers and every nonpitcher available to him.

But after Bill Russell walked with the bases loaded in the second, the rest of the Dodger pinch-hitters were a combined 0 for 6, and Pittsburgh reliever Cecilio Guante allowed just one hit in the last 3 1/3 innings for his first save.

The Dodgers, losing back-to-back games for the first time since they dropped three in a row from June 26-28, lost a chance to pick up a game on the second-place Padres in the NL West. San Diego also lost to remain a half-game behind L.A.

The Pirates, last-place team in the NL East, were swept by the Dodgers in Pittsburgh but scored twice in the first off Honeycutt and made it 5-1 in the fourth off Castillo. Sixto Lezcano singled off Castillo’s foot just before Khalifa lined a shot into the left-field pavilion.

Honeycutt, the only pitcher in the Dodger rotation without a complete game, has failed to go the distance in 17 starts this season. Since May 15, when he went eight innings in a 3-2 loss to the Cubs, Honeycutt has lasted as long as seven innings only twice in 10 starts.

Since the off-season surgery on his shoulder, the Dodgers have modulated Honeycutt’s work load, but his early exits also can be traced to two factors: his own erratic tendencies and Lasorda’s willingness to give Honeycutt a quicker hook than the other Dodger starters.

Lasorda took one look at the way the Pirates were knocking Honeycutt around in the first two innings--five hits and two runs--and didn’t hesitate to pinch-hit for his pitcher in the bottom of the second, sending up Russell with the bases loaded.

The Pirates put starter Larry McWilliams in that jam when Khalifa failed to touch second on Greg Brock’s apparent inning-ending double play at second. Umpire John Montague ruled Pedro Guerrero safe at second. McWilliams then walked Candy Maldonado, the runners moved up on a passed ball and Steve Yeager was given an intentional pass, loading the bases.

McWilliams went 3-and-0 on Russell, threw a strike, then walked him, forcing in a run. But Steve Sax flied to right, ending the threat.

Guerrero, who played left field, was making his first start since spraining his back hitting a home run in Pittsburgh on July 10.

“I’m not 100%,” Guerrero said. “I’ve just got to be careful.”

Lasorda, asked if Guerrero were ready, said: “He wants to play. That’s good enough for me.”

Guerrero, who struck out as a pinch-hitter in Sunday’s 4-2 loss to St. Louis, lined a single up the middle in the first. With two on in the fifth, Guerrero flied to the 370-foot sign in left.

McWilliams, who gave up six hits and walked five in 5 innings, was gone by the time Guerrero came to the plate in the seventh. He delivered his second hit of the night, against Guante, when left-fielder Joe Orsulak just missed a shoestring catch.

But Guante, who fanned pinch-hitter Len Matuszek to close out the sixth after Sax’s two-run double had made it 5-3, got Mike Marshall to chase a third-strike breaking pitch and retired Brock on an infield popup to finish off the seventh.

Dodger Notes

Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia showed up here Monday with a walnut-sized lump on the right side of his forehead, but said he bore no other aftershocks from his Richter-registering collision with Jack Clark of the Cardinals on Sunday. “I don’t have any headache at all, I feel good,” said Scioscia, who was knocked unconscious by Clark but held on to the ball to record the out. “I just thanked God it wasn’t more serious than what happened to me. It was a heck of a collision.” Scioscia, who was taken to the hospital with a mild concussion, watched TV replays and called it “a good clean play. I know Jack Clark, he plays the game hard, and I didn’t see anything dirty at all.” Asked how he managed to hold onto the ball, Scioscia said: “The ball held onto me.” He then reached into his cubicle and pulled out his mitt. “See--the ball’s still here today,” he said. Scioscia said that he’d been knocked out once before, in the minors, in a collision with Rickey Henderson, now of the Yankees. “My head fell back and hit the plate,” Scioscia said. . . . Candy Maldonado’s bat, impounded a week ago Sunday by the Chicago Cubs, was inspected by the National League office and was found to be above reproach. Cub catcher Jody Davis had said he saw a suspicious mark on Maldonado’s bat after he’d homered off pitcher Steve Trout. Maldonado won’t get his bat back, however, unless he wants it in pieces--league officials sawed it apart. “I don’t think Krazy Glue will help,” Maldonado said. . . . The Dodgers, who batted .200 (70 for 350) with runners in scoring position the first two months of the season, have hit .300 (96 for 320) since June 1. . . . The Pirates sent down pitcher Jose DeLeon, whose 14 losses were the most in the league, and activated pitcher Rod Scurry, who had been on the rehabilitation list. Scurry, who acknowledged a cocaine problem last season, had been on the rehabilitation list since June 28, after failing to show up at Veterans Stadium for a Pirates-Phillies game.