Dodgers, Taking Swings When They Count, Win Again

Manager Tom Lasorda again canceled batting practice for his Dodger players Monday night, basically for the same reason he had previously stuck a used piece of chewing gum atop his cap for a few days.

Silly superstition.

But if something helps improve the Dodgers’ fortunes, you would have an easier time removing a plate of pasta from in front of Lasorda’s face than getting him to change the routine, no matter how bizarre or comical.

So, after Dodger hitters came to life for the second straight game in a 6-3 win over the Atlanta Braves before 15,558 at Fulton County Stadium, Lasorda was asked whether he would continue to deny his players pregame cuts in the batting cages.

“Why not?,” he said, laughing. “We got 10 hits tonight, didn’t we?”

As a partial concession to baseball tradition, the Dodgers reserves and pitchers will hit before tonight’s game. But the Dodger regulars will once again skip batting practice in hope of producing again in the game.

Previously, it was the other way around. The Dodgers’ prolonged offensive drought was the reason Lasorda tried the gum-on-the-hat trick, which quickly lost its effectiveness.

“It obviously has helped,” said second baseman Steve Sax, who had three singles and two runs batted in Monday. “It’s just a way to take the pressure off us and keep us fresh.”

The Dodgers produced 10 hits and 6 runs in six innings off Brave starter David Palmer, using mostly well-placed singles and three key bunts.

Pitcher Orel Hershiser provided some of the offense, knocking in a run with a single in the Dodgers’ two-run third inning and bunting in another run in the Dodgers’ four-run sixth.

On the mound, which is where Hershiser usually does his best work, he shut out Atlanta for six innings before faltering in the seventh. Hershiser walked in a run, before reliever Brian Holton pitched out of a bases-loaded jam.

Holton gave up a two-run home run to Andres Thomas in the ninth inning, cutting the Dodger lead to 6-3, but he went on to earn his first major league save.

Hershiser, whose problems began after Mariano Duncan injured his back and hip, said neither his recent elbow pain nor the five-minute injury delay had anything to do with his swift downfall.

“I just stunk that inning,” Hershiser said. “I came out because I couldn’t throw the ball over the plate.”

Hershiser was hit hard at times Monday, but most of the Braves’ shots landed in Dodger gloves. That enabled Hershiser to even his record at 6-6 and lower his earned-run average to 3.03.

“For me,” Lasorda said, “Orel put on one hell of an offensive demonstration. The other guys see that and want to contribute.”

Dodger hitters really only got to the Braves’ pitching in the third and sixth innings, but that was enough.

In the third, Duncan led off with a drag bunt that he beat out. Duncan, who got his first hit left-handed since reverting to switch-hitting, went to second on Gerald Perry’s wild throw. Hershiser then singled to left, scoring Duncan. Later in the inning, Hershiser scored on John Shelby’s fly to left.

The Dodgers broke open the game in the sixth inning. Singles by Pedro Guerrero and Mike Marshall put runners on first and second for Franklin Stubbs, who crossed up the Braves by drag bunting for a single to load the bases.

Guerrero scored on Mickey Hatcher’s sacrifice fly, then Hershiser burned the Braves again. With the count 2 and 2, Hershiser bunted down the third-base line. Marshall scored and Hershiser easily beat third baseman Ken Oberkfell’s throw to first.

That made it 4-0, and Sax’s subsequent single to center brought home Stubbs and Duncan.

Hershiser said it was his idea to bunt, a risky move considering he had two strikes against him.

“I stood out of the box and I said, ‘should I do it or not,’ ” Hershiser said. “But I saw that (Oberkfell) was playing back a little.”

It would have been a rare easy win for the Dodgers if not for the Brave rallies in the seventh and ninth innings, one of which Holton extinguished and the other he caused.

Holton, primarily a middle to long reliever, came in in the seventh with the bases loaded and one out. But he struck out Glenn Hubbard on a slow curve, then forced pinch-hitter Ted Simmons to ground to first.

Another groundball to first, hit by Ken Griffey in the ninth, began a brief Brave rally. Sax fielded the ball in the hole between first and second, but Holton broke late in covering first. Sax wisely did not attempt a throw. Thomas, the next batter, belted a slow curve over the left-field fence to cut the lead to 6-3.

But Holton retired the Braves to get his first save and the Dodgers’ second straight win under Lasorda’s batting-practice ban.

Dodger Notes

Terry Forster update: Fred Claire, Dodger vice president, said he still has an interest in Forster, the former Dodger and Angel relief pitcher. Mark Polan, Forster’s agent, has talked with two other teams and indicated that Forster would go through tryouts soon. Said Claire: “I know there are other clubs interested. We’ll wait and see. We’ve outlined our interest. The next conversation we’ll have may indicate what’s going to happen.” Claire said he will contact Forster’s agent within a few days. . . . Add possible acquisitions: The Dodgers reportedly have been contacted by representatives for free-agent utility man Danny Heep, who would fill the same role as Len Matuszek, currently on the disabled list with partially torn tissue under his left foot. Heep hit .282 in 86 games with the New York Mets last season. . . . Relief pitcher Matt Young was examined by two Atlanta doctors Monday, and it was determined that Young suffered a sprained ligament on the inside of his left elbow. Young will be out only “a few days,” according to Bill Buhler, the Dodger trainer. . . . Tim Leary gets his chance as the Dodgers’ fifth starter tonight, but pitching coach Ron Perranoski indicated that it might only be a one-night engagement. Perranoski said that, with an off-day the next two Mondays, the Dodgers might return to a four-man rotation. “It just depends on the situation,” Perranoski said. . . . Matuszek continues to run in the outfield and on the basepaths, and Buhler said he might be ready to return within a week.