Dodgers Fall Flat Again as Mets Gain 5-1 Victory

The New York Mets have turned a series billed as a playoff preview into a showcase for their pitching.

On the heels of Dwight Gooden’s 7-1 victory Monday night, David Cone and Randy Myers took the sting out of nine Dodger hits in pitching the Mets to a 5-1 victory Tuesday night.

Cone (13-3) worked 7 innings of the Mets’ seventh victory in eight games against the Dodgers this season. Myers got John Shelby to pop out with two runners on in the eighth, then wrapped up his 18th save.

The Dodgers, who are 9-3 on a home stand that ends tonight, have scored more than four runs in only one of the seven games since Pedro Guerrero was traded, and they have scored two or fewer runs in four of those games.

Cone retired the Dodgers in order only twice, but they could manage only one run, on two infield hits and a hit batter in the second inning.

In front of a Dodger Stadium crowd of 45,512, the Mets got 11 hits, six off 20-year-old Ramon Martinez, who pitched 4 innings and was charged with the defeat.

Martinez, who allowed only one run in each of his first two starts but failed to get a decision in either, left during a three-run New York fifth.

Brian Holton, Tim Crews and Jesse Orosco kept the Mets from padding their 3-1 lead until the ninth, when the Dodgers blew a double play behind Alejandro Pena, helping the Mets extend their lead to 5-1.

Martinez, who walked four in each of his first two starts, struggled with his control in the first inning of this one, but he got out of trouble. However, he was constantly behind in the count.

He walked Wally Backman on four pitches with one out in the first, then walked Keith Hernandez on five. He threw a strike to Darryl Strawberry, then got Strawberry to hit a wicked one-hopper at shortstop Alfredo Griffin, who turned it into an inning-ending double play.

Martinez yielded a one-out single to Gary Carter in the second and a two-out single to Backman in the third. Then he pitched a flawless fourth before the Mets erupted in the fifth.

The left-handed-hitting Howard Johnson and Dave Magadan both singled to left to open the inning. Cone sacrificed to move both runners into scoring position.

Mookie Wilson slashed a single to left to score Johnson, and Backman doubled to right-center to score Magadan and send Martinez to the dugout, accompanied by warm applause.

Holton replaced Martinez and allowed the third run to score when Hernandez flied to right, as Wilson came home after the catch. Holton got Strawberry on a grounder to first to end the inning.

The Dodgers wasted an early opportunity against Cone. He yielded a one-out single to Mike Scioscia in the first, and Kirk Gibson beat out a bunt down the third-base line. The threat evaporated as Mike Marshall flied to right and Shelby struck out.

The Dodgers did push a run across in the second.

Franklin Stubbs, leading off, got the first of the singles on a grounder into the hole between first and second. Stubbs stole second, and Tracy Woodson was hit by a pitch. Griffin flied out for the first out, and Martinez sacrificed the runners into scoring position. Steve Sax followed with a roller to second and beat Backman’s throw to first with a head-first slide.

Stubbs scored easily from third, but Woodson, attempting to score behind him, was thrown out by Hernandez.

Cone retired the Dodgers in order in the third, gave up a double to Stubbs in the fourth and retired the side in order again in the fifth. In the sixth, he got Shelby to ground into a double play after Mike Davis had singled with one out.

Crews, who pitched a flawless sixth for the Dodgers, pitched another perfect inning in the seventh. Cone yielded a one-out single to Woodson in the bottom of the seventh, but he got Griffin on a fly to right and pinch-hitter Danny Heep on a grounder to second.

Orosco took over in the eighth for the Dodgers and held the Mets scoreless despite a one-out double by Hernandez, who continued to third when Davis bobbled the ball in the corner.

The struggling Strawberry then grounded to Stubbs, who looked hard at Hernandez, then fired across the diamond, where Woodson made a diving tag on the retreating Hernandez. Kevin McReynolds drew a walk, but Carter flied out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Dodgers put two runners on base for the first time since the second inning.

Scioscia singled with one out, but Cone struck out Gibson for the third time. (Gibson also struck out three times against Gooden in the series opener.) Davis singled to send Scioscia to third and bring on relief ace Myers. With his first pitch, he got Shelby to pop out to second, sending the game into the ninth inning.

Dodger Notes

Mike Marshall left the game after five innings because of lower back stiffness. A Dodger spokesman said it did not appear to the serious. . . . Fernando Valenzuela will have a Cybex test today to determine whether there has been any improvement in his shoulder strength, and he may begin throwing again during the 11-game trip that begins in Philadelphia Friday, therapist Pat Screnar said. . . . The Dodgers gave John Tudor permission to return to St. Louis to attend to personal matters. He will rejoin the team in Philadelphia. . . . The statistical line wasn’t pretty after Mario Soto made the first start of his rehabilitation assignment, but that isn’t surprising, considering his lack of competitive activity. Soto, pitching for the Bakersfield Dodgers against Modesto, worked 3 innings, making 62 pitches. He allowed 7 hits and 6 runs (3 earned), walked 2 and struck out 2. . . . Orel Hershiser (17-7) faces Bob Ojeda (8-12) in the home-stand finale tonight.