Dodgers and Giants Go to 11th in 1-1 Tie

The line between expectation and actuality kept shortening as the innings wore on Saturday night in Ramon Martinez’s eagerly anticipated major league pitching debut for the Dodgers.

Touted as a current version of the early-’80s Fernando Valenzuela, the 20-year-old Martinez was nothing less than sensational against the San Francisco Giants for seven innings. He was nursing a 3-hit shutout, recalling images of Valenzuela’s days as an unhittable unknown. Then came the eighth inning and the onset of the Dodger bullpen. Hopes of a winning debut were dashed when reliever Jesse Orosco could not extricate Martinez from a two-out jam, Will Clark’s single erasing the Dodgers’ tenuous 1-0 lead.

But the Dodgers eventually satisfied the crowd of 47,649 at Dodgers Stadium. After the Giants narrowly missed scoring chances in the ninth and 10th innings, Tim Leary hit a bases-loaded single with two outs in the 11th to provide them with a 2-1 victory.

The win kept the Dodgers 2 1/2 games in front of the second-place Houston Astros.

Despite the no-decision, Martinez lived up to the billing of being the Dodgers’ best pitching prospect since Valenzuela.

Comparisons between the two were unavoidable, even if Martinez is right-handed and skinny as a foul pole and Valenzuela is left-handed and as round as a pitching mound. Martinez does not have a screwball ,but his fastball has been clocked beyond 90-miles-per hour and moves around the plate and his changeup is deceptive.

The Giants saw firsthand Saturday night. Martinez breezed through the early innings, and the Dodger defense prevented a fifth-inning run when left fielder Kirk Gibson threw out Bob Brenly at home plate. Offensively, the only support Martinez received was a run in the sixth, when Mike Marshall singled in Pedro Guerrero, who had doubled.

It appeared as if Martinez would make it hold up. Martinez had struck out 5 and allowed only 3 singles going into the eighth. He was four outs away from a possible shutout when he walked Brett Butler and then yielded a well-placed hit-and-run single to Robby Thompson, moving Butler to third.

Manager Tom Lasorda then sent pitching coach Ron Perranoski out to take out Martinez, who left amid a standing ovation. Orosco, who had struck out Clark in a similar situation Friday night, gave up a line-drive single to right, scoring Butler to tie it, 1-1 and moving Thompson to third. Jay Howell then replaced Orosco and struck out Joel Youngblood to end it.

Howell worked in and out of a self-induced jam in the ninth, Donell Nixon reaching on an infield single and then taking third on a wild pickoff throw. But Howell struck out Matt Williams, and Alfredo Griffin threw out Nixon at home plate on Brenly’s grounder, Catcher Mike Scioscia expertly blocking the plate.

One good start does not a mania make, but it certainly is a start. And it assuredly will give Martinez a second start as the youngest member of the Dodgers’ new four-man pitching rotation.

Perhaps if the Dodger offense had a more producitve night against Giant starter Mike Krukow and relievers, Martinez would have been a winner in his debut.

Krukow, making his first start since June 25 when he went on the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation, was as impressive as Martinez until the sixth inning.

It was then that Krukow, perhaps tired because of lack of work, finally wilted and the Dodgers finally broke the scoreless tie. The Dodger rally began with two outs. Pedro Guerrero, emerging from a hitting slump, slammed a double down the left-field line. Then, on Krukow’s next pitch, Mike Marshall singled to center to score Guerrero and drive in his team-leading 68th run-batted in.

The Dodgers tried to pad the 1-0 lead that inning, eventually chasing Krukow after he walked John Shelby and pinch-hitter Danny Heep to load the bases. But reliever Scott Garrelts got Alfredo Griffin to ground to second to abort a big inning.

Martinez’s day at the ballpark began at 4 p.m., when he arrived in the Dodgers’ clubhouse and met with Scioscia to go over the signs in Spanish. Scioscia, who says he knows just enough Spanish to get by, said Martinez was a quick study.

“I know a little more Spanish now than when Fernando first came up,” Scioscia said. “He picked up on what we were trying to do right away. Baseball’s language is universal, anyway.” Martinez didn’t have many problems with the Giants in the early innings, either.

Most notable among the early highlights was the manner in which Martinez expertly pitched out of a jam in the fourth inning and the unexpected defensive help he received in a fifth-inning predicament.

In the fifth, Martinez faced runners on second and third with one out after Brenly walked, Jose Uribe singled to right and Krukow moved over the runners with a groundout on a fake bunt. Butler then lined Martinez’s first pitch into shallow left field. Gibson caught the ball moving in but, aware of Gibson’s weak throwing arm, Brenly was sent from third anyway.

Turns out that Gibson’s arm wasn’t so weak on this particular throw. He made an excellent one-hop throw to Scioscia, blocking the plate with his usual expertise for a rally-killing double play.

It was not quite as precarious for Martinez in the fourth. After striking out Thompson to open the inning, Martinez then forced Clark to hit a nubber off his hands that trickled past the mound to shortstop Griffin, who was charging the ball.

Clark beat Griffin’s throw, and he took second base when the ball went in the dirt and past first baseman Guerrero. It was at this point that Martinez came up with some of his finest pitching. He stayed ahead in the count against Kevin Mitchell, eventually striking him out on a wicked off-speed pitch that tailed away.

After Martinez had a 2-0 count against Mike Aldrete, the Dodgers decided to intentionally walk him, setting up a force play. No force play was needed, however, since Martinez struck out Matt Williams on four pitches. As he strode off the mound, Martinez received an ovation from the crowd.

Martinez breezed through the first inning of his first major league start but ran into some problems in the second. With two out, Williams singled to right on a slow bouncer in the hole between first and second that went under Guerrero’s glove. Martinez then pushed the count to 3-0 on Brenly before getting a called strike. But Brenly knocked the next pitch deep into left-center field.

John Shelby ran down the liner and made a leaping catch at the 385-foot sign, slamming into the wall just after grasping the ball.

In the bottom of the second, Shelby then tried to jump-start a Dodger rally against Krukow, who had as good a start as Martinez. With one out, Shelby lined deep to right field, the ball hitting the concrete foundation of the short fence near the line and caromed back toward center field. Shelby easily had a triple, and third base coach Joe Amalfitano seemed to entertain thoughts of an inside-the-park home run before wisely holding Shelby at third.

That is where he stayed, however, as Krukow struck out Anderson, intentionally walked Griffin and then got Martinez to ground to third for the final out.