Mitchell Delivers on Time : Home Run in 7th Against Valenzuela Gives Giants Win

A swirl of uncertainty, like the wind whipping paper wrappers around Candlestick Park, accompanied Dodger pitcher Fernando Valenzuela to the mound against the San Francisco Giants here Monday night.

Once the owner of a delivery as reliable as Manager Tom Lasorda’s postgame caterer, Valenzuela this season has been consistent only in his ability to baffle the Dodgers. Bad starts have outnumbered the good, and no one can predict which will occur based on trends culled from previous outings. They just wait until it unfolds and wish for the best.

This time, Dodger hopes of getting a good outing and a win from Valenzuela, which hasn’t happened since June 14, were put to rest in the seventh inning when Kevin Mitchell broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run home run off Valenzuela that gave the Giants a 3-1 victory before 29,947 fans and a regional television audience.

It wasn’t as if Valenzuela (5-8), wearing glasses on the mound for the first five innings because of the wind and dust, was dominating through the first six innings. His control faded in and out like poor radio reception. His fastball suffered periodic power outages. He pitched in and out of jams in every inning but the fourth and entered the seventh having thrown 111 pitches.

Despite all that, Valenzuela had kept the Giants and dominating starter Kelly Downs (10-8) from pulling away.

That was enough to persuade Lasorda to stay with Valenzuela, a decision that ultimately led to Mitchell’s home run, which resulted in the end of the Dodgers’ three-game winning streak and the continuation of Valenzuela’s winless streak, now at seven games. In that span, Valenzuela is 0-3 with a 6.15 earned-run average.

The loss shaved the Dodgers’ National League West lead to 5 1/2 games over the idle Houston Astros and 6 over the third-place Giants, going into an evening doubleheader here tonight.

The last time the Giants faced Valenzuela, on April 24, his prolonged pitching slump had not yet taken hold.

Monday night, the Giants were witness to one of Valenzuela’s better outings in the midst of slump. Although he walked five batters and gave up nine hits, and although poor Giant base running foiled two scoring chances, Valenzuela did only allow three runs in seven innings.

“With our ballclub, giving up three runs, we should win the game if we were hitting,” catcher Mike Scioscia said. “If we win that game, 4-3, you guys (reporters) would be saying what a great game Fernando threw. But we lost, 3-1, so it’s What’s-Wrong-With-Fernando again.”

The Giants were wondering the same thing. Manager Roger Craig said he definitely noticed a change, not only from this season to last but from April to July.

“We hadn’t seen him in a while,” Craig said. “He looks heavy, and he’s not throwing hard. The highest we got him on the radar gun was 84 and 85 (m.p.h.), which is below average.”

Even in his salad days, when Fernandomania gripped Los Angeles, Valenzuela never possessed a fearsome fastball. But the change has been in his lack of control and lack of movement on his screwball.

“I don’t know what the reason is,” Valenzuela said of his struggles. “Everybody can have a bad year. Tonight, I had trouble, but they still didn’t score many runs. But we didn’t score many.”

On a night when Downs limited the Dodgers to five hits and a run in the sixth on a bloop double by Franklin Stubbs, a passed ball and Mike Marshall’s sacrifice fly, the Dodgers needed Valenzuela to dominate, as other Dodger pitchers have done in recent victories.

San Francisco first got to Valenzuela in the third inning, stringing together an infield single by Brett Butler, a single to left by Robby Thompson and Will Clark’s run-scoring bloop single to left. The Giants went on to load the bases, thanks to third baseman Jeff Hamilton’s fielding error, but Valenzuela worked out of it.

Then, in the sixth, after the Dodgers tied it, 1-1, the Giants struck again. Mike Aldrete walked and was replaced by pinch-runner Donell Nixon, who was thrown out at home plate on Bob Melvin’s single to center field that ricocheted off John Shelby’s glove. Two successive walks loaded the bases with Thompson up.

Valenzuela went to a 2-and-0 count on Thompson and was so upset by home plate umpire Doug Harvey’s calls that pitching coach Ron Perranoski came to the mound to calm Valenzuela. Thompson then worked the count to 3-and-2 before Valenzuela threw perhaps his fastest fastball of the night by the Giant second baseman for the third out.

Perhaps the 30-pitch sixth inning sapped Valenzuela’s strength, although both Valenzuela and Lasorda said otherwise. With one out in the seventh, Candy Maldonado singled to center. Mitchell then launched Valenzuela’s first pitch, a slider, over the 365-foot sign in left-center.

Valenzuela’s assessment was that he just pitched his usual game.

“He (Mitchell) just hit the ball, and they scored more runs,” Valenzuela said. “When I have trouble everybody looks for something for the reason. I don’t care what everybody says. I do my job and try to help the team.

“This is a bad year for me; good for the team. As long as we win, that’s fine. In 1986, I won 20 games and we lost. I don’t like that. I like it when the team wins.”

Scioscia says there still is a chance that Valenzuela and the Dodgers can have good seasons, at the same time, before October.

“He’s taking little steps up in his mechanics,” Scioscia said. “If he were taking three or four steps back every start, I’d worry. You guys can sit back and bury Fernando because he’s not pitching like he did in the past, but I see improvement.”

Dodger Notes

Alfredo Griffin, out since May 21 after breaking a bone in his right hand after being hit by a Dwight Gooden fastball, was activated Monday. Mike Sharperson was returned to the triple-A Albuquerque, N.M., club. Griffin said his right wrist, which has been stiff after being in a cast for five weeks, still isn’t completely well. “It’s not 100%, but I’ve played with worse before,” Griffin said. Griffin was given the option of going to Albuquerque for a rehabilitation assignment, as teammate Pedro Guerrero has done. “I’m a different type of hitter than Pete, a contact hitter,” Griffin said. “My game is bunting and slapping the ball around. I don’t think I need as much work as Pete.” After playing two games in Albuquerque, Guerrero apparently is not experiencing neck soreness, but apparently is not in game shape. He was not in the starting lineup for Albuquerque’s game Monday night because of what Dodger physical therapist Pat Screnar called “general soreness” in Guerrero’s legs. Fred Claire, the Dodgers’ executive vice president, said he spoke with Guerrero Monday morning and said he was unsure when Guerrero would rejoin the Dodgers. It was hoped that he would be back during the Dodger-Giant series, but that possibility appears unlikely.

Claire said Don Sutton threw off the mound Monday and will pitch for Bakersfield in Palm Springs on Thursday, his second rehabilitation start. If Sutton remains on the roster by Aug. 1, he will receive a $75,000 incentive bonus. Claire said money will not be the determining factor in his decision on whether to keep Sutton or Shawn Hillegas.

FERNANDO’S STRUGGLES

How Fernando Valenzuela has fared in his last six starts:

Date Opponent IP H R ER BB SO Winner W-L June 25 at Cincinnati 5 4 4 1 0 Reds, 6-4 5-5 July 1 at Chicago 7 8 6 6 6 2 Cubs, 9-2 5-6 July 6 St. Louis 7 4 3 3 3 6 Dodgers, 7-3 5-6 July 15 at Chicago 7 6 2 2 5 3 Dodgers, 3-2 5-6 July 20 at St. Louis 5 11 7 7 2 4 Cardinals, 8-7 5-7 July 25 at San Francisco 7 9 3 3 5 3 Giants, 3-1 5-8 Totals Six Games 33 43 25 25 22 18 5-8