A Rainout Sends 2-1 Dodger Lead Down the Drain

Dodger sensibilities were spared the indignity of last place, at least for another night, when rain Tuesday night washed out any chance of the Cincinnati Reds extending the Dodger losing streak to six games.

Actually, the Dodgers were leading, 2-1, on Jeff Hamilton’s first big league home run, and Rick Honeycutt was pitching a no-hitter when umpires called the game in the bottom of the fourth after an 86-minute delay.

Honeycutt, who has an 0.50 earned-run average in his last five starts but has only two wins in that span to show for it, was asked if he’d been disappointed to be stopped six outs short of an official no-hitter.

“There’ll be others,” he said, deadpan. “How about Jeff? How’s he going? He gets his first big league dinger and it gets washed out.”

Undoubtedly, there’ll be others, too, for Hamilton, who was recalled from Albuquerque on Saturday and three days later found himself batting cleanup for the Dodgers, a position in the order he’d never had with Albuquerque.

“Do you think he would have dreamed four days ago that he’d be batting cleanup for the Dodgers?” said Manager Tom Lasorda, who acknowledged that his own worst nightmares had not allowed for that possibility.

The 22-year-old third baseman, who had impressed Dodger officials during spring training but figured to be at least a year away from the majors, may be here longer than anticipated.

When the Dodgers return home Thursday, third baseman Bill Madlock is scheduled to see Dr. Frank Jobe to determine whether there has been a recurrence of phlebitis in his left leg.

Hamilton, who connected off Red left-hander Joe Price with Bill Russell aboard on a walk in the third inning, put the souvenir ball in a little plastic bag.

“I’m debating whether or not I should keep it,” he said. “I guess I’ll keep it and put ‘rained out’ on it.”

Madlock is just one of eight Dodgers who have appointments to see the doctor Thursday. The list also includes Reggie Williams (left ankle), Jerry Reuss (left elbow), Mariano Duncan (left ankle), Steve Sax (right heel), Mike Marshall (back), Enos Cabell (right shoulder) and Mike Scioscia (right ankle).

Cabell, spiked in the right shoulder by Atlanta’s Dale Murphy on a weird play on June 19, finally came out of the lineup Tuesday, one night after his bases-loaded throwing error had wrecked Orel Hershiser’s two-hitter.

“It’s killing me,” Cabell said. “I was trying to hold out until somebody came back, but it hurt too much.

“I can’t do anything. When I throw it hurts, when I swing it hurts, when I sleep it hurts. Even when I get a hit, it hurts.”

Cabell had his shoulder examined last weekend in Houston and was told that a good deal of blood had gathered in the area of the collarbone.

“I kept trying to play,” he said, “because there was nobody else to play.

“I’d hardly ever been hurt until I came here. Maybe it’s contagious. Maybe it’s something about these uniforms.”

Marshall, normal occupant of the Dodger cleanup spot, has not played since last Friday because of his back.

“And he said it was sorer today than it was the day before,” trainer Bill Buhler said. “They’ll take an X-ray Thursday and go from there.”

Shortstop Duncan, who hasn’t played since June 20, never went on the disabled list but is showing few signs of being ready to play on what was originally diagnosed as an ankle sprain.

“On Thursday, they’ll do a bone scan, to eliminate one more possibility,” Buhler said.

Scioscia, out of commission since June 9, when Red pitcher Tom Browning slid into his right ankle, causing a membrane tear, still can’t run. He won’t play for at least another week, Buhler said.

This game has been rescheduled as part of a twilight-night doubleheader on Friday, Aug. 8.

“Sure, I’d much rather play it then,” Lasorda said. “Our guys should be back by August, shouldn’t they?”

Tonight, Lasorda plans to put Alejandro Pena’s comeback to a further test. Pena, who is 0-1 with a 7.11 ERA in the bullpen, will be given his first start of the season.

Pena’s shoulder surgery 16 months ago makes his usefulness in the bullpen limited, inasmuch as he needs a great deal of time to warm up and can’t pitch on consecutive days.

“What we’d like to see is him as a starter,” Lasorda said. “It’s not too easy for him to get up and down in the bullpen. We want to try to find out this way how he is.”

And if Pena doesn’t cut it as a starter, what then?

“I can’t make a decision on that yet,” Lasorda said.

Dodger Notes

Rick Honeycutt faced 13 batters, walking two. Nine grounded out and two reached on infield errors, one a throwing error by shortstop Craig Shipley in the first inning, leading to Cincinnati’s only run. . . . The Dodgers were forced to take cabs to the ballpark when catcher Jack Fimple inadvertently commandeered the team bus. Fimple was aboard with ex-Brooklyn Dodger Dixie Howell and a batboy. Thinking that the bus had been scheduled to leave at 4:30, he told the driver to leave about 10 minutes later. The bus was scheduled to leave at 5. “I’ve been in the game a long time, and that’s the first time I’ve seen that happen,” Manager Tom Lasorda said.