Guerrero, Duncan Hit Grand Slams in Costly Loss for Expos

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda, who probably was tempted to try a little moonwalking himself, said it was a night for dancing in the streets of San Pedro de Macoris after two of its native sons, Pedro Guerrero and Mariano Duncan, hit grand slam home runs in consecutive innings of the Dodgers’ 8-4 win over the Montreal Expos Friday night before a stunned crowd of 21,124 at Olympic Stadium.

“They can do that right now,” said Guerrero after his 30th home run off Montreal reliever Tim Burke wiped out, in a single blow, the Expos’ 3-0 lead in the sixth, which became an 8-3 deficit an inning later when Duncan connected off Gary Lucas with the bases loaded.

“Two San Pedro de Macoris kids,” Guerrero added. “They should have a party.”

Only once before in Dodger history have two players hit grand slams in the same game, and that was 84 years ago. And those two baseball immortals, Joe Kelley and Jimmy Sheckard, did not share the same zip code, either. Kelley was from Cambridge, Mass., Sheckard from Upper Chanceford, Pa.

“This record may never be broken,” Lasorda gloated afterward. “Two Dominicans hitting grand slams in the same game. Tell Ross Porter to check that one out.”

But while Guerrero and Duncan were bidding for a national holiday in a country that historically doesn’t need much of an excuse to declare one, there was little cause for celebration in at least three other corners of the world:

--The streets of Blasdell, N.Y., a suburb of Buffalo and home to Expo rookie pitcher Joe Hesketh, whose left shinbone was broken in a second-inning collision at the plate with Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia.

--The Expo clubhouse, where the home team was left to contemplate not only its fifth straight loss at home to fall 7 1/2 games behind Eastern Division-leading St. Louis, but also the loss of the pitcher who had the best earned-run average on its starting staff.

--The cubicle in the visitors’ clubhouse occupied by Scioscia, lamenting his part in a season-ending injury.

Expo Manager Bob (Buck) Rodgers, a former catcher himself, called Lasorda after the game and asked him to tell Scioscia that it wasn’t the catcher’s fault, the same thing he told reporters.

“Nothing dirty in that play,” Rodgers said. “Nothing. It was a clean play.”

Hesketh, who had set down the first six Dodgers in order, striking out three, was on first with a walk, and U. L. Washington was on second when Tim Raines hit a sinking line drive to center field. Candy Maldonado attempted to make a diving catch, but the ball was jarred loose when Maldonado made impact with the artificial surface, and the ball squirted toward right field.

Washington scored easily, and Hesketh appeared to have Mike Marshall’s throw beaten, too, as he headed home. But instead of sliding, as on-deck batter Vance Law was screaming at him to do, Hesketh tried to score standing up and instead went head-over-heels over Scioscia’s extended left leg.

Hesketh never touched the plate. As he lay writhing on the ground, clutching his shin, Scioscia tagged him out, then bent over the fallen Expo, his hand on Hesketh’s shoulder. Eventually, Hesketh was carried off on a stretcher and taken to the hospital, where X-rays showed the break.

“I appreciate Buck calling,” Scioscia said later, “but that still doesn’t change the fact that a guy got a broken leg. I feel very badly about it.

“I don’t know what he (Hesketh) tried to do, but I thought if he slid, he would have been safe.”

It was just over a month ago, on July 21, when Scioscia was knocked unconscious by Jack Clark of the Cardinals in another home-plate collision.

“Besides myself almost being killed a month ago,” Scioscia said, “this was probably the worst.”

Lasorda said that Dodger pitchers are instructed to slide into home if there’s any chance the play might be close.

“One of the toughest things in baseball is when you’ve got to send your pitcher home. That’s very dangerous.

“You can’t fault their third-base coach (Rick Renick). It looked like he (Hesketh) was going to make it (home) easy to me.”

Dodger pitcher Orel Hershiser, who was backing up the play, said it looked like “Hesketh was trying to jump over Scioscia and just didn’t make it.”

Hershiser added: “I feel sorry for Hesketh. (But) when there’s any doubt, slide.”

When Hershiser was lifted for pinch-hitter Len Matuszek in the top of the sixth, his fifth straight win was very much in doubt. The Expos, who had scored just two runs in their previous 36 innings, had whacked him around for eight hits, including Hubie Brooks’ RBI double in the first and Terry Francona’s RBI single in the fifth, both on 0-2 pitches.

“But I knew I had a chance,” Hershiser said, “with Pete up. The right guy in the right spot.”

A walk to Scioscia and singles by Steve Sax and Duncan had loaded the bases and brought in Expo rookie reliever Tim Burke, who began the week with an 8-0 record but was about to suffer his second loss in four nights.

Burke got Enos Cabell to force Scioscia at the plate for the inning’s second out, but as a reward, he had to face Guerrero, who had misplayed Raines’ fly ball into a double the inning before, leading to Montreal’s third run.

With a 1-and-1 count, Burke tried to slip a slider past Guerrero. It looked like a good pitch, someone said to Guerrero.

“Yeah, it was,” Guerrero said. “A good pitch to hit.”

Guerrero drove that pitch somewhere over the 375-foot sign in left-center. An inning later, Rodgers brought in the left-handed Lucas to face three left-handed swinging Dodgers, all of whom gained passage to the basepaths. Greg Brock singled, Ken Landreaux did the same, and Scioscia walked.

Lucas looked as if he might wriggle out of it when he struck out Sax and got a force play at the plate out of pinch-hitter R.J. Reynolds. But then came Duncan, armed with advice from Guerrero to wait for a pitch inside. He got it, too, on Lucas’ second delivery, a breaking ball that Duncan pounded over the wall in left for his fifth home run of the season.

“The amazing thing about it,” Lasorda said, “is Pete didn’t swing hard, and neither did Mariano.”

The amazing thing about it, Duncan said, is that he’d never hit a grand slam before.

In the minors?

“Never.”

In Dominican ball?

“Never.”

In street ball?

“No, never, never, never,” Duncan said, hardly able to contain himself. “You don’t know how I feel right now.”

Somebody asked Duncan if he’d ever dreamed of being like Guerrero every day.

“You mean, if he hits four home runs in one game, I hit four home runs? Never,” Duncan laughed.

How about $7 million for five years.

“I want to be like Pete in everything,” the rookie said, laughing again.

With the win, the Dodgers lost a half-game to the Padres, who won a doubleheader in New York and now trail by 6 1/2 games.

“Just when things started to look a little tough, too,” Lasorda said.

Dodger Notes Carlos Diaz, one out away from recording his first save since May 1, gave up a run in the bottom of the ninth on Tim Raines’ RBI single, his fourth hit of the night, and was replaced by Tom Niedenfuer, who struck out Vance Law for his 13th save. “I’ll get another chance one of these days,” Diaz said. . . . Dodger Vice President Al Campanis announced that the Dodgers are bringing up six players effective Sept. 2, when teams are permitted to expand their rosters from 25 to 40. First baseman Sid Bream, catcher Gilberto Reyes, outfielder Ralph Bryant, and first baseman-outfielder Franklin Stubbs are being recalled from Albuquerque, and outfielder Jose Gonzalez is getting the call from San Antonio. The Dodgers purchased the contract of outfielder Stu Pederson from Albuquerque. Of that group, Bream has the superior statistics: .365 average, 13 home runs and 46 RBIs in 75 games. Pederson was hitting .332, Reyes .270, Stubbs .268 (28 home runs, 86 RBIs), Bryant .261, and Gonzalez .290 in Class AA. . . . In addition, infielder Dave Anderson, who has been playing for the Dukes on a 20-day rehabilitation program, also should be rejoining the team at about the same time. . . . With 20 stolen bases, Mariano Duncan leads National League shortstops in that category. But his 82 strikeouts (60 batting left-handed, 22 right-handed) are second on the Dodgers to Mike Marshall’s 96.