Hershiser Gets Win, Assist as Dodgers Sweep Past Padres

Familiarity may breed contempt, but the strongest emotion the Dodgers felt after another long day at the park against the San Diego Padres was relief.

Relief not only that they had rid themselves of the bothersome Padres until September but relief that this glut of games--five in three days--against their hostile neighbors is behind them. And relief that, after the 56th inning of the weekend, they still had enough available players and ingenuity to find a way to complete a doubleheader sweep.

So depleting was Sunday’s doubleheader that the Dodgers had to use the Orel Hershiser in both games. In the bright sunshine of the first game, Hershiser pitched a complete game as the Dodgers pounded the Padres, 12-2, before a Dodger Stadium crowd of 37,045.

And, after the sun had set and the lights were turned on in the 11th inning of the second game, Hershiser delivered an important pinch-hit sacrifice bunt that moved the winning run into scoring position. Three batters later, Kirk Gibson’s broken-bat single off reliever Mark Davis scored Dave Anderson to give the Dodgers a 5-4 win before the stragglers still at the stadium from the first game.

“We came out in pretty good shape,” Gibson said in summary.

Well, that may be true in the standings, where the Dodgers took 3 of 5 games from the Padres to extend their lead to 1 1/2 games over Houston to lead the National League West. But the series took its toll, the attrition prompting Hershiser to volunteer to go to the bullpen in the nightcap.

After reliever Jesse Orosco lost a 4-3 lead in the ninth inning, spoiling starter Fernando Valenzuela’s seven-inning outing, the Dodgers could not turn to either Jay Howell or Alejandro Pena, both of whom were struck down with injuries in the bullpen.

Howell complained of chest pains while warming up late in the second game and was taken to Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood for tests. A Dodger spokesman said X-rays and tests to determine a cause were negative. Howell will be re-evaluated today.

About the same time, Pena was struck by acute neck stiffness while warming up. So, he, too, was unavailable.

With options limited, the Dodgers went to Tim Crews, who pitched two scoreless innings for the win. But had the Dodgers not scored in the bottom of the 11th, Hershiser said he volunteered for the rare opportunity to earn a win as a starter and as a reliever in the same day.

“I told (pitching coach Ron Perranoski) after I sat down following the bunt, ‘I’m ready to go warm up now,’ ” Hershiser said. “But he said he would not do that to me.”

As it was, Hershiser was needed as a pinch-hitter because Manager Tom Lasorda exhausted every option except for left-handed hitting Mike Davis against Davis, a left-hander. Hershiser had a hunch he might be needed. So, in the fifth inning of the second game, he changed out of his street clothes and put on a clean uniform.

“I was sitting in the trainer’s room watching the game on TV when it got close,” Hershiser said. “I thought maybe I could pitch an inning, which they didn’t want. But I wanted it.”

Valenzuela, pitching five days after the death of his father in Mexico, was pitching quite capably at that point. The Padres scored three runs in the first two innings, but Valenzuela then pitched in and out of jams for four shutout innings. But when he got in another jam in the seventh, Orosco entered and worked out of it without giving up a run. But Randy Ready’s run-scoring single off Orosco in the ninth sent the game to extra-innings.

Valenzuela said his father’s death and spending four days attending to family business in Mexico affected his pitching.

“I don’t want to use it as an excuse,” Valenzuela said. “But it was tough going back to Mexico and then coming back and pitching. I had no work (between starts). But I could concentrate on the hitters (despite personal problems). But I told Perry it was right to take me out.”

While the Dodgers’ relief corps was decimated by injury, the Padres were limited because Lance McCullers, their hottest current reliever, was unavailable for the entire series. McCullers has back spasms, which meant Padre Manager Jack McKeon had to stay with first-game loser Jimmy Jones much longer than he wanted and stayed with Davis for three innings in the second game.

Jones, who had allowed only 2 earned runs in his previous 28 innings against the Dodgers, saw his mastery come to an abrupt halt. The Dodgers pounded Jones for 9 runs and 11 hits in four-plus innings. Reliever Greg Booker fared little better, giving up 3 runs and 4 hits in 3 innings.

The Dodger assault in the first game was highlighted by four home runs, some coming from unlikely sources, at least this season--Franklin Stubbs, Rick Dempsey and Mike Davis.

Kirk Gibson also hit his team-leading 14th home run off of Jones, the pitcher whom he downgraded in April after beating the Dodgers.

The most surprising home run had to come from Davis, the $987,500 free-agent signee who lost his starting job late last month. Davis, following a pregame meeting with Manager Tom Lasorda as well as an injection into his left ankle, hit a two-run pinch-hit home run off Jones. It took Davis 181 at-bats to hit his first home run, prompting Dempsey, team jokester, to feign a heart attack in the dugout.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Davis said. “Maybe this is the start of something for me.”

Hershiser, meanwhile, pitched mostly on cruise control and was easily able to hold such a big lead and improve his record to 10-3 and notch his fifth complete game.

“It’s very relaxing to pitch with a big lead,” Hershiser said. “You can save your stuff for your next start. That’s nothing against the Padres, but you try to pitch to them and just get outs. It was a day to work on things, use all your repertoire of pitches.”

And maybe prepare for a pinch-hitting assignment, too.

Dodger Notes

Fernando Valenzuela did not wear glasses while pitching Sunday, as he did in his previous start Tuesday night in Atlanta. Valenzuela said he chose not to wear glasses because it was a day game. “I could see just as well,” Valenzuela said. “And I didn’t have many balls hit to me to field.” . . . Jeff Hamilton, filling in for Pedro Guerrero at third base went 2 for 4 with a run batted in during the first game and hit his second home run in as many days in the second game. Although Hamilton might stay at third base when Guerrero returns from his neck injury and perhaps will switch to first base, Hamilton isn’t taking anything for granted. “I’ve got to play hard every day and not worry about it,” Hamilton said. “It’s their decision.” . . . Ramon Martinez, the Dodgers’ 20-year-old pitching sensation from the Dominican Republic, has been promoted from double-A in San Antonio to triple-A in Albuquerque.