Dodgers Win Two, Beating Giants on Balk in Nightcap

Even for Candlestick Park, site of many a strange occurrence, Tuesday night’s doubleheader between the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants definitely had to rank high in the annals of the unusual.

As the night wore on, fans tried to climb the left-field fence even after routine fly balls. Many of the fights in the stands lasted longer than Tyson-Spinks. And, ‘round midnight, fog rolled in and out like on a rock video.

On the field, however, the Dodgers and Giants battled as rivals always do, the Dodgers won the first game, 7-3, behind Orel Hershiser’s pitching and home runs by Rick Dempsey and Jeff Hamilton.

Then they won again, 6-5 in 11 innings, with Franklin Stubbs scoring the tie-breaking run well after 1 o’clock this morning on the second balk of the night by Scott Garrelts. Stubbs had led off with a double and gone to third on Tracy Woodson’s grounder to second.

Giant Manager Roger Craig, who between games had called Tuesday’s second game the most important of the season for his team, was ejected by home plate umpire Greg Bolin for questioning the balk call.

“When I go out and argue, I know I’m right,” Craig said. “Our guys battled for seven hours, never quit. If a guy is a good pro umpire, he’s not going to make a borderline call at a point like that. He let’s the players decide the game.”

The doubleheader sweep was the fourth of the season and third on the Dodgers’ current trip.

They have gone 11-4 so far on the trip, stand a season-high 19 games over .500 and lead second-place Houston by seven games in the National League West. The defending champion Giants, who were 2 1/2 games out of first at the All-Star break, fell eight games behind by losing the doubleheader.

In the second game, the lead changed hands several times in the late innings before the teams entered the 11th tied, 5-5.

In the top of the ninth, Steve Sax’s infield hit scored Hamilton, who had reached base on Jose Uribe’s error.

But the Giants rallied in the bottom of the inning, Will Clark’s ground ball off Jesse Orosco scoring Robby Thompson from third. Thompson had singled to right off Jay Howell.

In the third inning of the second game, Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda asked umpire crew chief Doug Harvey to order Giant starter Don Robinson to remove a wrap bandage from his left, nonpitching, forearm. An inning earlier, Robinson had been hit on the arm by Alfredo Griffin’s grounder.

Normally, according to Harvey, pitchers are not allowed to wear bandages. But Harvey said that since he saw Robinson get hit, he would allow him to wear the bandage. When the protest was announced, the crowd booed.

One inning after lodging the protest, the Dodgers forged a 4-1 lead, thanks to a rally that included a run-scoring infield hit by Hamilton, a run-scoring bloop single by Griffin and Tim Belcher’s two-run double.

Belcher gave up a run in the sixth inning on consecutive doubles by Mike Aldrete and Ernest Riles. Reliever Alejandro Pena worked out of the jam, maintaining the 4-2 lead through the seventh inning.

But in the bottom of the eighth, the Giants tied the game, 4-4, on Bob Melvin’s two-out, two-run triple to right-center field off Howell, who had just relieved Pena.

Hershiser and a revitalized offense got the evening off to a good start for the Dodgers, though there were more than a few anxious moments throughout the first game.

Trying to snap his three-game winless streak, Hershiser allowed a run in the first inning after the Dodgers had scored a run off Giant starter Terry Mulholland.

It was not Hershiser at his best in the first. He walked Brett Butler, who later stole second base and went to third on a groundout. Former Dodger Candy Maldonado then ripped a double down the right-field line, scoring Butler and making it 1-1. Hershiser then made it more difficult for himself by walking Mike Aldrete.

But after getting Kevin Mitchell to fly out to end the inning, Hershiser reverted to the dominating pitcher who won 13 games before the All-Star break. He retired 13 of the next 14 batters going into the sixth inning, when he worked out of a minor jam.

Mulholland, however, shut down Dodger hitters through the sixth, no great feat considering the way the Dodgers have hit recently.

Then came the seventh inning, when Dempsey delivered a two-run home run to left field that gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead and probably kept Hershiser in the game. The rally started when Hamilton doubled off the glove of Giant third baseman Kevin Mitchell, who was nearly hit in the head by the hard-hit liner.

Dempsey fell behind, 0-2, in the count before launching an inside slider just over the fence down the left-field line. The ball landed on top of the Dodger bullpen cage, 335 feet from home plate.

Hershiser nurtured that 3-1 lead into the eighth inning, when he faltered. With one out, the Giants loaded the bases against Hershiser, prompting Lasorda to summon Jesse Orosco to pitch to pinch-hitter Joel Youngblood.

Youngblood hit into a fielder’s choice at second, scoring Brett Butler from third to narrow the lead to 3-2. Orosco was then replaced by Howell, who got Mitchell to fly to deep center to end that threat.

In the ninth inning, the Dodgers got the breaks and capitalized on them.

Hamilton hit a home run to left field to give the Dodgers a 4-2 edge. Dempsey then walked and Stubbs dragged a bunt down the first base line. The Giants let the ball roll foul but failed to pick it up and it rolled back into fair territory, and Stubbs had a single. Steve Sax then followed with a two-run triple to center, increasing the Dodger lead to 6-2. Later, Sax scored on Garrelts’ balk for a seventh run.

Howell struggled a bit in the ninth, allowing a run. But he worked out of a jam with runners on second and third by striking out Clark on a curveball to register his 13th save.

“I have a theory that what goes around, comes around on offense,” Hershiser said. “We haven’t been scoring a lot of runs, but I figured if I could stay around long enough, they’d get me enough runs.”

Dodger Notes

In the second game, Mike Marshall made his first start at first base since asking to move to the outfield to lessen the strain on his chronic lower back condition. The move enabled Manager Tom Lasorda to start Mike Davis, hot at the plate recently, in right field and John Shelby in center field. . . . Lasorda’s protest of Tuesday’s second game was his third this season. The Dodgers also won the two other games that were protested.

Pedro Guerrero, who has been out for 51 days with a pinched nerve in his neck, is scheduled to be at Dodger Stadium Friday, trainer Bill Buhler said, but he did not specify whether it was to be examined or activated. Guerrero has been with the triple-A Albuquerque club. Said Executive Vice President Fred Claire: “There’s no way I can pinpoint when he’ll be back (to play). I don’t think Pete needs that type of pressure. We can’t do anything about Pete, except give him the best medical attention we can.”

Mariano Duncan, Albuquerque’s shortstop, suffered a broken bone in his left hand--while swinging a bat Monday night. Buhler said that surgery to remove the bone is possible. Even if surgery is not required, it appears that Duncan will miss the remaining four weeks of the Pacific Coast League season and probably will not be ready to join the Dodgers when the roster expands to 40 players in September.

Alfredo Griffin played as a defensive replacement at shortstop in Game 1, making a throwing error, and started the second game at shortstop, making a throwing error. Lasorda remained noncommittal when asked whether Griffin would eventually replace Dave Anderson as the Dodgers’ starter. “I think Anderson has played a lot of innings,” Lasorda said. “We’ll see how it goes. I want to make sure Alfredo feels good and ready to come back.”