Hershiser Fans 14 Astros but Loses in 11, 3-2

Orel Hershiser insists that he will remember this one as just another defeat, as if the unusual circumstances that made it possible never happened.

Do not believe him.

No, the Dodgers’ 3-2 loss to the Houston Astros in 11 innings Friday night will be indelibly marked as a virtuoso performance by Hershiser, even if officially he will be branded the loser.

Hershiser struck out 14 Astros, tying Houston’s Mike Scott for the most strikeouts in a National League game this season. He walked only 3 of the 38 batters he faced, the first coming in the ninth inning.

Still, Hershiser wound up the loser, partly because of events beyond his control and partly because the Astros were able to figure him out in the 11th inning.

Hershiser, who threw 142 pitches, allowed consecutive singles in the 11th before the Astros finally pushed across Bill Doran with the winning run on Kevin Bass’ sacrifice fly off Dodger reliever Matt Young.

Had it not been for an earlier bizarre inside-the-park home run by Doran on what, at most, appeared to be a bloop single, an 11th inning would not have existed.

“You are going to throw the ball well sometimes and still lose, and you’re going to sometimes win and not feel happy about the way you throw,” Hershiser said. “That happens. This was just another loss. There’s no letdown. Sure, it would’ve been a fun, fun game to win . . . But it became just another loss.”

Others in the Dodger clubhouse seemingly took the loss a lot harder than Hershiser.

Manager Tom Lasorda called it a “crime” that Hershiser had to be the loser on a night when “you can’t pitch a better game than that.”

Catcher Mike Scioscia called it a “beautiful” pitching effort and lamented the fact that the rest of the Dodgers could not support him.

But Hershiser’s thing of beauty was tainted with some Astro graffiti in the 11th inning.

Hershiser bounced out of the dugout that inning, hardly looking tired. But it seemed to show in his pitching, as Doran led off with a line-drive single to center. Doran advanced to third on Craig Reynolds’ line-drive single to right.

As much as they wanted to see Hershiser continue, Lasorda and Perranoski said a change had to be made. So, they brought in beleaguered Ken Howell to pitch to Glenn Davis. Howell left more vindicated than beleaguered, striking out Davis.

In came Young, making his first appearance since June 7 because of an elbow injury, to face Kevin Bass. Bass lined Young’s first pitch deep to right field, scoring Doran with the winning run.

“Eventually, we gotta start getting things to fall into place for Orel,” Scioscia said.

The cruel twist for Hershiser (7-7) was that he probably would not have had to go into extra innings if not for a routine fly ball in the sixth inning by Doran that became an inside-the-park home run. The home run, which tied it, 2-2, was the last run scored for another five innings, but it will be remembered by Hershisher for a long time.

Hershiser had two outs in the inning when Doran blooped a fly to left that Pedro Guerrero, playing Doran to pull in left-center, tried to run down. The ball bounced under Guerrero’s glove and bounded to the fence.

Guerrero eventually retrieved the ball and fired it to cutoff man Mickey Hatcher, who threw to Scioscia at the plate.

The second unusual occurence on the play came when Scioscia emerged from his collision with Doran without the ball. Scioscia held up an empty mitt, the ball having popped out just after impact.

“We should have won this ball game,” Lasorda said. “We left (five) runners (in scoring position in the first four innings), and the way they scored their second run . . . “

There was nothing tainted about the way Houston scored its first run, a solo home run by Jose Cruz in the second inning. It was one of Hershiser’s only mistakes this night.

The Dodgers scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings off Danny Darwin, which seemed to be enough to win. But after Doran’s inside-the-park home run, the Dodgers could not get a third run against relievers Larry Andersen and Dave Meads, who earned the win by pitching a scoreless 11th.

“These things happen,” Hershiser said. “They’ll even out.”

You might not want to believe that, either.