Leary Prescribes 6-Hit Shutout of Expos

Dr. K was not supposed to hit town until tonight, along with the rest of the New York Mets. But Dodger pitcher Tim Leary, the practitioner on call Sunday at Dodger Stadium, was simply Goodenesque in his latest outing.

Sitting down Montreal Expo hitters like patients late for appointments, Leary administered massive doses of his overpowering fastball and split-fingered off-speed pitch to record a career-high 12 strikeouts and earn his National League-leading sixth shutout in a 4-0 Dodger victory before a crowd of 39,505.

Leary’s dominating 6-hitter, supported by an offense that made the most of 8 hits, enabled the Dodgers to maintain a 5 1/2-game lead over the second-place Houston Astros and San Francisco Giants in the West. The Dodgers take a season-high 7-game winning streak into the three-game series against the Mets, the East leaders, who will start Gooden tonight.

The Dodgers, who were 27-27 at Dodger Stadium before they returned home 10 days ago, are 9-1 on this homestand; the only loss was Aug. 14 to San Francisco. They have since swept Philadelphia and Montreal and are a season-high 21 games over .500.

In part, the Dodgers can thank Leary, who has a third of the victories during the home stand.

Not really known as a strikeout pitcher--actually, not known for much of anything before this season--Leary (14-8) has forged a place for himself among the league leaders in several pitching categories, including strikeouts.

Leary’s 12 strikeouts, half of them against Tim Raines, Andres Galarraga and Tim Wallach, moved him into sixth place in the NL with 146. Equally as impressive, he is tied for second in complete games with 9, is tied for third in wins with 14 and is third in earned-run average at 2.41. And his sixth shutout pushed him into the lead in that category, ahead of Houston’s Mike Scott.

Comparisons between Leary and Scott could be made, since both emerged as quality pitchers after they learned split-fingered pitches. But Leary’s metamorphosis also can be linked to the development of a cut fastball and an injection of confidence from his early success this season.

“I don’t think he’s got the best pure, natural stuff,” catcher Mike Scioscia said. “He’s taught himself a lot and learned how to execute. Last year, if we wanted to throw three fastballs, he’d throw three fastballs. This year, when we ask him the same thing, he’ll say, ‘OK, I can sink one, cut it or let it ride up.’ That way, he makes the ball do different things.”

Sunday, the ball was doing whatever Leary wanted. If the dips and swirls of his cut and sinking fastball didn’t keep Expo hitters guessing, they were fooled by the quick arm motion of his split-fingered off-speed pitch or the sheer speed of his regular fastball.

Leary did not walk a batter. In 183 innings, he has a strikeouts-to-walks ratio of 146-39.

The quintessential Leary strikeout Sunday was against Wallach with two out in the seventh inning. Leary threw a split-fingered pitch for a strike, followed with a fastball that registered 95 m.p.h. on the speed gun, and finished him off with a sinking fastball.

“I thought Tim was my friend,” said Wallach, shaking his head. “But he didn’t give me a chance. He threw that (second) pitch pretty hard. His best pitch is the fastball. It moves a lot, and it makes that split-finger that much better. He’s going to get a lot of strikeouts that way.”

The Expos are quite aware of that by now. The only other time Leary faced the Expos this season, he pitched a 7-hit shutout. That night, he had 10 strikeouts.

Leary said he does not expect to log double-figure strikeout totals against most teams he faces. He said that the Expos are a “free-swinging team” and that it suits his pitching style. Most certainly, the Expos are not a free-connecting team when Leary is pitching. But then, not many teams have been this season.

“I felt stronger with the fastball today,” Leary said. “My main goal was to go as long as I could. My last start (he allowed 5 runs in 6 innings but earned the win), I didn’t feel I had the zip. I’ve had a couple starts when the bullpen has been tired and I know I’m going to be out there a long time, regardless. Today I could relax a little.”

Once the Dodgers produced some runs, that is. Left-hander Neal Heaton shut out the Dodgers for four innings before Leary, the Dodgers’ best hitting pitcher, hit a two-out single to center. Leary went 1 for 3 Sunday, raising his batting average to .315.

Steve Sax knocked in Leary with a double down the left-field line. The ball caromed off the railing and through the legs of Raines in left field, enabling Sax to take third. Two pitches later, he scored on a passed ball.

Kirk Gibson increased the Dodger lead to 3-0 in the sixth inning, basically by himself. He led off with a single, went to second on Mike Marshall’s hit-and-run groundout, stole third and scored on John Shelby’s sacrifice fly. The final Dodger run came in the seventh when Dave Anderson hit a bases-empty home run to left off reliever Jeff Parrett.

The Dodgers have not always provided Leary with adequate run support. But when he is as dominating as he was Sunday, it isn’t needed. With eight starts remaining in the Dodgers’ final 39 games, Leary has a chance for 20 wins.

“I’m not thinking about any of that,” Leary said. “My goals in the spring were just to make the rotation out of spring training. In the second half, I’ve upped (the goals) so that I can put in as many innings as I can to keep the strain off the bullpen.

“But . . . I didn’t think I’d have six shutouts in August.”

After every impressive outing, Leary is asked to explain his transformation from a marginal pitcher to one with a chance at being a 20-game winner. He tells the story of his twice-weekly commutes to Tijuana to work on his split-fingered pitch in winter ball. He explains the details of the different forms of his fastball, which has enabled him to abandon a curveball altogether.

But Scioscia said the real story is that Leary believes in his self-taught ability and is continually refining his pitches.

“Everybody looks at that forkball (split-fingered pitch) of his as the big reason,” Scioscia said. “But that’s not it. He’s got confidence now. He’s had good outings, and his confidence just kept going. It’s been phenomenal.”

Dodger Notes

Pitcher Tim Leary on his scarcity of walks this season: “That’s been the biggest thing for me, not walking people. You do that by establishing the fastball and then come with the split-finger (as an off-speed pitch) with the same arm speed. If you’re a hitter, you can’t wait on that pitch if you’re behind in the count.” . . . Dave Anderson hit his second home run of the season Sunday. In each of the two previous seasons, Anderson had 1 home run. His career high is 4 in 1986. “I usually just hit one a year, so I feel I’m way ahead of my pace,” Anderson said, laughing. Someone scribbled over Anderson’s locker: “Senor Home Run.” . . . The consecutive three-game sweeps of Philadelphia and Montreal were the Dodgers’ first since July 28 to Aug. 3, 1986, when they swept San Francisco and Cincinnati.

WHAT A HOMESTAND!

The Dodgers have won 9 of 10 games during this 13-game homestand--their longest of the season:

Date Score Winning Pitcher August 12 Dodgers 7, San Francisco 3 Tim Leary (12-8) August 13 Dodgers 2, San Francisco 1 (11 innings) Alejandro Pena (5-5) August 14 San Francisco 15, Dodgers 4 Kelly Downs (12-9) August 15 Dodgers 1, San Francisco 0 Tim Belcher (9-4) August 16 Dodgers 7, Philadelphia 5 Tim Leary (13-8) August 17 Dodgers 7, Philadelphia 2 John Tudor (7-5) August 18 Dodgers 2, Philadelphia 1 Jay Howell (3-3) August 19 Dodgers 2, Montreal 0 Orel Hershiser (17-7) August 20 Dodgers 4, Montreal 3 Jay Howell (4-3) August 21 Dodgers 4, Montreal 0 Tim Leary (14-8)