Dodgers Split With The Reds, Lead Them by 5

A few roads that didn’t lead to Rome intersected here at Riverfront Stadium, where the Dodgers and Reds split a doubleheader Friday night that left the Dodgers five games in front in the National League West but pushed the Reds into second place, percentage points ahead of San Diego.

While Orel Hershiser remained on the straight and narrow for his 12th win of the season, one more than he had in 1984, in the Dodgers’ 5-3 win in the first game, Rick Honeycutt remained stuck in reverse in the second game, lasting just 2 innings in the Dodgers’ 5-2 loss to Cincinnati, Honeycutt’s 10th loss of the season.

Red pitcher Jay Tibbs, meanwhile, took the long way to his four-hit, complete-game win, opting to drive instead of flying from Denver when the Reds recalled him from the minors.

And the Dodgers finally crossed paths with Buddy Bell, the third baseman long coveted in Los Angeles but right at home in Cincinnati, where his father, Gus, starred for the Reds.

It was Bell’s two-run double off Honeycutt, his former Texas Ranger teammate, that started the Reds to their second-game win, their first in five meetings with the Dodgers. Tony Perez followed with a single that scored Bell and knocked out Honeycutt, and Nick Esasky greeted reliever Bobby Castillo with a monster home run that gave Cincinnati a 5-0 lead.

That lead stood up despite Pedro Guerrero’s second home run of the night and 25th of the season, two behind league-leading Dale Murphy of Atlanta.

Guerrero’s first homer of the night--and first three-run home run of the season--came even though he said he felt “kind of lost at the plate.”

It was in hopes that Honeycutt would find himself again that Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda restored him to the starting rotation after a brief exile to the bullpen. But after his third straight failure to get past the third inning, Honeycutt’s future remains as uncertain as it was before.

He was hurt most Friday by Bell, his friend and former Texas Ranger teammate, who had lined sharply to third with two runners on in the first before unloading with a double that reached the wall in left-center on one bounce.

“I haven’t seen him in such a long time,” Bell said when asked if he could detect the source of Honeycutt’s problems. “His biggest asset is his control and his sinker, and tonight he didn’t have his control.”

Asked if he thought Honeycutt’s shoulder may be bothering him more than he has let on, Bell said: “It’s tough to tell with Rick. Man, he’s such a competitor. I’ve seen him when he can’t lift his arm, and the next day he goes out and pitches.”

When someone suggested that must take a toll on Honeycutt, Bell said: “It probably does.”

Ron Perranoski, the Dodger pitching coach, insisted that Honeycutt’s problems remain his mechanics.

“He’s gotten out of kilter,” Perranoski said, “and when we worked with him in the bullpen, I thought he’d found a pretty good rhythm. I thought he had it on quite a few pitches tonight, but he was fighting himself.

“The way he’s throwing the ball, I don’t think it’s pain. He’s not dropping his arm down funny.”

The way Tibbs decided to drop in after being recalled from the minors had Red vice president Bill Bergesch fuming.

The Reds summoned Tibbs on Wednesday from Denver, where he had been sent down on July 9, when his record fell to 4-11. But instead of hopping on a plane, Tibbs hopped into his Datsun 200SX and took two days to make the 1,100-miletrip, driving to Lousville and spending the night there, then showing up here in the middle of the afternoon. That had Bergesch ready to write him a one-way ticket in the opposite direction.

“I don’t know why I did it--I just did,” said the 23-year-old Tibbs. “I like having my car.

“Maybe Mr. Bergesch won’t say anything now.”

Bergesch said he still planned to meet with his young pitcher today.

“I still think he was tempting fate, but you’ve got to give the devil his due,” Bergesch said.

While Bergesch and Tibbs are certain to have an interesting chat, Hershiser continued his running commentary with Reds player-manager Pete Rose, which began in Los Angeles when Hershiser warned first baseman Rose that if he played in any closer when the Dodger pitcher was at bat, he might lose his teeth--or his dentures.

Friday’s discussion convened when Hershiser squared around to bunt on a squeeze play in the second inning, and Red pitcher Ron Robinson hit him in the left biceps with a pitch.

“When I got to first he told me he thought Mike Marshall (the runner on third) might have left too soon,” said Hershiser, who appeared to be annoyed as he walked down the line to first but later said there were no hard feelings.

“He (Rose) was all over me during batting practice,” Hershiser said. “He’s like Lasorda. There’s not going to be another Pete Rose.”

But against Hershiser, Rose was nothing special. He failed to get the ball out of the infield in four trips and, after sitting out the second game, remains 25 hits short of breaking Ty Cobb’s record.

“Was he 0 for 4?” Hershiser said, feigning ignorance. “The big thing for me was to save the National League some balls. He gets one every time he gets a hit.”

The Reds couldn’t keep Guerrero from depositing a couple of souvenirs in the crowd of 40,236, the biggest here since Opening Day. Asked how long Guerrero could keep this up, Rose said:

“Well, Henry Aaron did it for 23 years. I don’t know how long Guerrero can go, but he’s a good hitter. He’s hitting the ball wherever it’s pitched.”

Dodger Notes Pedro Guerrero extended his hitting streak to 12 games, longest by a Dodger this season. But his two strikeouts in Friday’s first game was the first time that has happened to him in 37 games. The last time was June 10 also at Cincinnati, when Guerrero struck out against John Franco and Frank Pastore. Friday, he struck out against Ron Robinson and John Stuper in the first game, and also went down once against Jay Tibbs in the second game. He also grounded into a double play in Game One. “I swung at a lot of bad pitches,” Guerrero said. “Today I was swinging at balls low and in the dirt. For some reason I was kind of lost at the plate.” . . . Ken Landreaux hit his eighth home run and second in two games in Friday’s first game. He also was hit by a pitch in the left elbow but played in the second game. . . . Tom Niedenfuer pitched the last two innings of the first game and recorded his ninth save. . . . It’s official: Dodger third base coach Joe Amalfitano has a fractured right thumb and will be in a cast for four weeks.