Cardinals Give Dodgers Run Around, 5-1

In one night, the St. Louis Cardinals suffered such a drastic decrease in production that it might have rendered the offenses of some teams inoperable.

Not to worry, though.

Friday night, before 48,667 at Dodger Stadium, the Cardinals didn’t need a repeat of Thursday’s 17-run scoring binge against San Diego. They no doubt had to be quite satisfied with their standard attack, which revolves around running teams into submission, that produced a routine 5-1 win over the Dodgers.

With the Cardinals, leaders in the National League East, hit-and-run is almost redundant. Outside of Inglewood, which the Lakers call home, St. Louis currently is the best running team in town.

With speedy Vince Coleman and Ozzie Smith terrorizing the base paths, the Cardinals had no problem getting runners in scoring position. and they brought them home with equal ease.

Coleman, perhaps the league’s fastest player, had two hits, a stolen base and scored two runs. Two of three hits by Smith, who also had a stolen base, didn’t travel beyond the infield. Like Coleman, Smith scored two runs.

Terry Pendleton, who hits third in the order behind the two thoroughbreds, had two runs batted in on fly balls. Later, Pendleton scored the Cardinals’ fifth run after he executed a hit-and-run play for a single.

Another recipient of the Cardinals’ speed is clean-up hitter Jack Clark, who had three hits and three RBIs.

The Dodgers’ offense, at least on this night, wasn’t too swift--or productive--against starter Tim Conroy and reliever Rick Horton, who combined to snap the Dodgers’ three-game winning streak.

The Dodgers’ lone run came when Pedro Guerrero opened the ninth inning with a home run to center, his seventh, on Horton’s first pitch.

Conroy, whose last complete game was a year ago Friday, didn’t quite make it this night. Recalled from Triple-A to replace injured ace John Tudor, Conroy shut out the Dodgers through six innings but ran into trouble in the seventh.

He gave up a leadoff single to Pedro Guerrero but got a temporary reprieve when Mickey Hatcher grounded into a double play. Then Conroy yielded consecutive singles to Mike Scioscia and Franklin Stubbs and a walk to Reggie Williams.

Cardinals Manager Whitey Herzog had seen enough and called on reliever Rick Horton to face pinch-hitter Alex Trevino. Trevino sent a deep fly to center field, which Willie McGee caught--on the run, of course.

Horton secured Conroy’s first win of 1987 and his fifth save by pitching two solid innings after getting out of the jam in the seventh. His only mistake was Guerrero’s home run.

Dodger starter Alejandro Pena could not find a way to slow the Cardinals down enough in the first six innings to keep from falling behind, 3-0.

St. Louis’ third run, coming in the fifth, was Exhibit A to prove the importance of a running game.

Coleman opened the inning with a single to left. Then, with the hit-and-run on, Smith chopped a single past third baseman Bill Madlock, drawn in to the grass for fear of a bunt, that moved Coleman to third. Pendleton’s line drive to right field scored Coleman without a play at home.

Pena, who was pulled for a pinch hitter in the sixth, pitched well enough to beat most teams that don’t devise creative ways of scoring. He gave up three runs on eight hits and still is searching for his first win.

The Cardinals’ first two runs off Pena also were aided by the speed of Coleman and Smith.

Strangely, Madlock did not have a single playable ball hit to him in his first three starts after his return from shoulder surgery.

“It really doesn’t matter,” Madlock said before the game. “Eventually, I’ll get one. All you do is either catch it or miss it.”

Madlock didn’t have to wait long for the Cardinals to test him. In the first inning, he handled a bunt down the third-base line by Smith. Madlock threw on a bounce to first, but Smith easily beat the throw.

One batter later, Clark hit a high chopping ground ball that handcuffed Madlock, who bobbled it and could not make the play. It was his first error of the season but, more importantly, it scored St. Louis’ second run of the inning.

The Cardinals started fast on Pena. Coleman led off with a single to left, then stole second and moved to third on Smith’s bunt single. Pendleton’s deep fly to center scored Coleman, making it, 1-0.

Pena ran into trouble in both the second and third innings, as well. But he managed not to allow any additional runs. There were early stirrings in the Dodger bullpen when Pena gave up a leadoff single to Curt Ford and then walked Jose Oquendo on four pitches. An early yanking was averted when Pena retired Steve Lake on a pop to first and then forced Conroy to ground into a double play. It was the Dodgers’ second double play of the game, Steve Sax and Mariano Duncan combining for another in the first inning to extinguish the Cardinals’ rally at two runs.

Pendleton reached second against Pena in the third inning, thanks to Clark’s line-drive single to left. But McGee again grounded into a force play.

Dodger Notes

Despite a quote attributed to him by a suburban newspaper, Pedro Guerrero said he is not upset at teammate Mike Marshall. Guerrero was quoted as saying that he has to play with injuries but Marshall does not. Guerrero said Friday he never made those remarks. “I would never say that about one of my teammates, especially in the papers,” Guerrero said. “Of course, I feel for Mike. We need him in the lineup.” . . . In other quoteworthy news, Dodger long reliever Tim Leary was quoted in Wednesday’s Milwaukee Journal that he is unhappy in his role. He said he deserves a chance to be a starter. “The way I finished last season and all (he was 6-2 in his last 8 decisions with the Milwaukee Brewers), it doesn’t seem all that fair that here I have to fight for a job in the spring.” Leary, asked about the story before Friday’s game, said: “I don’t want to comment on that at all.” . . . Reggie Williams, who started his second straight game Friday night in place of Mike Ramsey, said he is not approaching it as a springboard to gaining the full-time starting spot. “I don’t look at tomorrow, just tonight,” Williams said. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want to play every day. But I’m not going to gripe or anything. Ramsey’s played in almost all the games, and they wanted to rest him.” . . . The Dodger-Cardinal game rained out last weekend in St. Louis will be made up as part of a doubleheader July 7, not July 6, as the clubs announced last week. . . . Fernando Valenzuela (3-1) opposes Danny Cox (3-0) tonight at 7:05.