Win Escapes Dodger Arms, 9-8, in 10 : Pitchers Can’t Hold Several Leads, and Reds Rally for Victory

Not only did the Dodgers lose a game Thursday night under the most unpleasant of circumstances, they also may have suffered a confidence crisis or two.

A 9-8 loss in 10 innings to the Cincinnati Reds before a Riverfront Stadium crowd of 30,695 temporarily muddled devout Dodger notions that:

--Their starting pitching, undeniably the strongest part of the club, will always keep them in the game, at least through the early innings.

--Their bullpen, vastly improved over last season, can be counted on to hold leads, at least big leads.

--On those occasions when the first two strengths falter, a potent offensive attack can overcome all other deficiencies.

Blowing leads ranging from 3-0 and 5-1 in the early innings to 7-5 in the middle innings, the Dodgers finally went belly up in the ninth when reliever Jay Howell gave up two runs to turn an 8-6 lead into an extra-inning affair. Once there, it didn’t take the Reds long to deliver the knockout punch against Howell, Eric Davis singling in Kal Daniels with two out in the bottom of the 10th for a 9-8 win.

Poor pitching from four of the six Dodger pitchers wasted one of the Dodgers’ most productive nights in some time.

Kirk Gibson went 4 for 5 with a home run and 3 doubles; Mike Marshall hit his second home run in as many nights, and even slumping Pedro Guerrero contributed a run-scoring single.

The Dodgers, still 1 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Houston Astros and 2 1/2 ahead of San Francisco going into a four-game series against the Giants starting tonight at Dodger Stadium, sat in a near catatonic trance afterward. But they dogmatically stated that the loss did not shake their belief in themselves. Perhaps nudged it to the side, but that’s all.

“I think we’ll be all right,” reliever Brian Holton said in reassuring tones. “This was one game.”

Added Gibson, “I believe we’ll be there in the end.”

But in the raucous Red clubhouse, Manager Pete Rose picked up where he left off the previous night by saying that Thursday’s game--particularly the manner in which the Dodgers lost it--confirmed his belief that Los Angeles will not win the West.

“I just think they are going to come back to reality,” said Rose, whose team rests in fourth place, 6 games behind. “I really do. Tonight’s game is just verifying it in my mind. They used the whole bullpen and they still gave up 17 (actually 19) hits.”

Even during this poor stretch, in which they have lost 10 of 14 games, the Dodgers had not suffered such a glaring pitching breakdown as they did in this one. Previously, it had been a torpid offense, not starting or relief pitching, that caused the Dodgers’ demise.

Starter Tim Belcher, who had not lost in five starts since returning to the rotation, did not make it out of the third inning. The quick hook, surprising since the Dodgers are hoping to rest their relievers, came after Belcher gave up a second-inning home run to Paul O’Neill, who inflicted considerable damage on Dodger pitching in the three-game series, and a run on three straight singles in the third.

On came the Dodger bullpen, led by middle relievers Tim Crews and Holton. Crews gave up run-scoring singles to Davis and O’Neill, and Holton allowed a run-scoring double to Nick Esasky that tied it, 5-5. All four runs in the inning were charged to Belcher, who later expressed some dismay at being replaced so early.

Holton gave up a run of his own in the fifth inning, before Alejandro Pena bailed him out. But Pena worked in and out of his own predicament in the sixth inning, prompting Manager Tom Lasorda to summon Jesse Orosco in the seventh.

Orosco capably preserved the Dodgers’ 8-6 lead by pitching uneventful seventh and eighth innings. But since he has only pitched beyond two innings twice this season, blowing a lead on one occasion, Orosco was not given the chance to earn a save in the ninth.

That job was left to Howell, the Dodgers’ most reliable closer. Coming into Thursday night’s game, Howell had blown only 4 of 18 save opportunities. He lost a 4-3 lead the last time he faced the Reds, Aug. 3 in Los Angeles.

Howell just didn’t have it on this night. He gave up singles to Davis and O’Neill to open the ninth. Jeff Reed then singled in Davis, and Jeff Treadway’s sacrifice fly to center field scored O’Neill to tie it, 8-8.

John Shelby, the Dodger center fielder, had a chance to nail O’Neill, but his strong throw bounced on a bad spot--the slope of the mound. The ball lifted into the air like a pop-up, O’Neill easily scoring.

John Franco, the Reds’ most reliable reliever, retired the Dodgers in order in the top of the 10th. Then rather than turn to reliever Shawn Hillegas, recently converted from a starter, the Dodgers stayed with Howell. Howell allowed a leadoff single to Kal Daniels and struck out Chris Sabo. Had Daniels not been running on Barry Larkin’s grounder to shortstop, the Dodgers might have had a chance for an inning-ending double play, but they had to settle for an out at first base.

So, with Daniels on second and two out, Davis lined a single to left-center that Dodger outfielders simply let roll to the wall, knowing that Daniels would score the winning run on the hit, anyway.

“I just got my butt kicked,” Howell said. “It was a good old-fashioned . . . whipping. You’re going to have days like that. It’s a matter of bouncing right back. It’s not the first time I got my butt kicked, and it won’t be the last. No excuses for tonight. They hit bad pitches and good pitches. I just can’t let it carry over. I’m not going to let it affect me. It’s a long season.”

That seemed to be the team mantra after this loss.

The Dodgers returned to Los Angeles on a late-night charter flight to begin a 13-game homestand, their longest of the season. They are 27-27 at Dodger Stadium.

Obviously, it was not a time for any player to utter a discouraging word, even if signs of a slow dissolve in the West may be appearing.

“We’ll have to find out how good we are,” infielder Dave Anderson said. “A lot of teams counted us out early, but then we jumped out to that big lead (8 games by mid-July). We’ve got questions, the main thing being whether we have the talent to win. I still feel good about the club. Everybody goes through times like this. I really think we’ll win or lose with our bullpen, and I think they’ll come through.”

The last two nights, Dodger players have reacted with little more than shrugs to Rose’s remarks that the Dodgers, basically, are overrated and will fold like lawn chairs before the end of the season.

“He can say whatever he wants,” Gibson said. “I may have an opinion on what their fate will be, but I’m not going to share it. It’s his opinion.”

Lasorda took exception to Rose’s comment that the Dodgers are returning to “reality,” asking for a clarification that essentially will only come with time.

“What is reality?” Lasorda asked. “What is reality with this team?”

In the coming weeks, the Dodgers will find out.