Cubs Get Breaks, Snap Dodger Streak : After Sutcliffe Is Injured Again, They Rally Behind Sorensen

This time, there were no expletives spewing from the Chicago Cub clubhouse, only some homespun philosophy.

Minutes after his club whipped the Dodgers, 9-2, at Dodger Stadium Sunday, Cub Manager Jim Frey scratched a head turned gray by too many broken-bat singles and broken dreams and told reporters: “We needed that like we needed oxygen. This is just another example of what a crazy business this is.”

Twenty-four hours earlier, Frey had ranted and raved over a game in which the Dodgers had committed five errors, collected several hits that were less than ferociously struck, and emerged victorious.

So what happens Sunday? Frey watches his starter, Rick Sutcliffe, exit with an injury in the first inning, he goes to a reliever who hasn’t gone more than three innings in any game this year, the Dodgers connect solidly on one ball after another and the Cubs wind up snapping a five-game Dodger win streak.

Crazy business all right.

“Under the circumstances, the way the game started out, it was a tremendous win,” Frey said. “We got some breaks, but as crazy as this thing is, they hit some balls solid, but we caught them.”

In other words, what goes around, comes around. Frey needed only to point a few stalls down in the Cub clubhouse for living proof of that theory.

Davey Lopes was traded by the Dodgers 3 1/2 years ago, ostensibly before his advancing years made him a liability.

But on Sunday, Frey put him in the starting lineup and he responded with a single, double, home run, four RBIs and his 37th stolen base in 39 attempts.

Crazy business.

“It felt good. I can’t say that I wasn’t a little anxious to play,” Lopes said. “It took me three days to get in there. But with the quality ballplayers on this club, you have to wait your turn to play.”

Lopes, 39, welcomed Dennis Powell, 21 and making his first major league start, with a first-inning homer.

Powell, who replaced Steve Howe on the L.A. roster, had a 9-0 record and a 2.85 ERA with the Dodgers’ Triple-A farm club in Albuquerque. By the time Chicago was done with him Sunday, however, his big league ERA was up to 6.75 and his record down to 0-1.

After surrendering a double to Bob Dernier, a single to Ron Cey, the Lopes homer (his ninth) and three long fly balls in the first inning, Powell gave up two more home runs in the fourth. Gary Matthews hit his sixth of the season into the bleachers in left-center to lead off the inning and Jody Davis followed that one out later with his ninth homer into the Dodger bullpen.

“I got a breaking ball out over the plate to Lopes,” Powell said. “My problem was, I kept falling behind on the count and I kept having to throw fastballs.

“But I remember what (minor league pitching instructor) Larry Sherry told me. You’ve got to keep your head up. I’m in Los Angeles now. I wasn’t nervous. I was looking forward to today and I’m looking forward to my next opportunity.”

Said Lasorda: “It was a tough spot to put a kid in, playing the Cubs in front of a full house when we had won five in a row. We wanted to see what the kid was made of. There’s only one way to find out. He showed me some things. He showed me a good arm and that he can hang in there.”

Frey could take little comfort in Powell’s difficulties. He had worries of his own.

Sutcliffe, the Cy Young Award winner last year, was making his second start after a trip to the disabled list due to a strained muscle in his left leg. Sunday, the muscle problem acted up again. Quickly.

After getting the first two men he faced out, Sutcliffe gave up a single to Ken Landreaux, a walk to Pedro Guerrero and run-scoring singles to Greg Brock and Mike Marshall.

Enter Lary Sorensen.

A veteran of nine major league seasons and five clubs (Milwaukee, St. Louis, Cleveland and Oakland previously), Sorensen took the mound with a 2-2 mark this year and a 5.75 ERA.

But by the time he left, the Dodgers couldn’t be blamed for thinking he was the Cy Young winner.

“He stopped us cold,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said, shaking his head.

Over 5 innings, Sorensen hit a batter, walked one and permitted a harmless single by Marshall, emerging with his third victory. Warren Brusstar pitched the final three innings to collect his third save.

“He (Sorensen) gave us a big lift,” Frey said. “He kept the ball down and had his slider working.”

Any remaining suspense about the outcome dissolved in the seventh inning for the crowd of 47,571 when the Cubs broke through for five runs.

At first, it looked more like an opportunity for Frey to try out some new four-letter words on those within earshot after Davis doubled, and then failed to score on a one-out double by Chris Speier. The Chicago catcher had held up until Speier’s ball cleared Marshall’s head in right.

Pinch-hitter Keith Moreland was then walked intentionally by Rick Honeycutt, who relieved Powell in the fifth.

Davis finally came home to score on a wild pitch, but it looked as if the Dodgers might avert additional damage when a pitchout caught Speier coming down the line. He was erased in a rundown.

But this wasn’t Saturday, when five errors could not prevent a Dodger victory. This was Sunday when one error sealed a Dodger defeat.

Dernier hit an infield bouncer that Sax gloved, but then threw wildly to first, allowing Moreland to come home. Ryne Sandberg followed with an infield single, Lopes doubled home two, and the final run scored on a wild pitch by the third Los Angeles pitcher of the day, Bobby Castillo.

It was Chicago’s only win of the four-game series, but, since San Diego also lost Sunday, the defeat didn’t cut into the Dodgers’ advantage in the National League West. They remain up by 4 1/2 games.

“Both teams were due today,” Marshall said. “Us and them, each way.”

In his office afterward, Lasorda shrugged. “Those days and those things happen,” he said.

Dodger Notes Davey Lopes’ steal of third in the seventh inning was his tenth in his last 10 tries. He is now just 13 stolen bases shy of becoming the first man to reach the 50-mark at age 39. . . . Dodger shortstop Dave Anderson is recovering from a back problem, but he was available Sunday. . . . Same story for Los Angeles reliever Tom Niedenfuer, who told Tom Lasorda he was available after throwing on the sidelines prior to Sunday’s game. He has been sidelined with a pulled muscle on the left side of his rib cage. . . . Surprisingly for a club that plays all its home games in daylight, Sunday’s victory was only the fourth in 18 road day games for Chicago.