Blauser’s Blast Beats Dodgers

Brave bashing, that popular pastime that has occupied so much of the Dodgers’ time this season, was interrupted at the most inopportune moment here Tuesday night.

Instead of securing another win over this woeful team from Atlanta to bolster their National League West lead before meeting Houston and Cincinnati in important series, the Dodgers were the ones beaten by the Braves, 2-1, in a stark role reversal before a mere 7,245 at Fulton County Stadium.

This was strictly a self-inflicted loss for the Dodgers, who had won 11 of the previous 14 games from the team with baseball’s worst record. The difference in the Braves uprising Tuesday night was an eighth-inning home run by light-hitting Jeff Blauser off reliever Jesse Orosco, who had not made an appearance since Aug. 23.

But the problems exhibited by the Dodgers, whose lead over the second-place Astros remained at 5 games heading into tonight’s meeting at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodger offense continued to struggle, spoiling a solid pitching effort by starter Tim Belcher. They managed just four hits off Brave starter Pete Smith and scored their only run in the eighth inning on Kirk Gibson’s bungled infield single off reliever Paul Assenmacher.

Other than that rally , the Dodgers expended their energy finding ways to blow scoring chances. Their most creative one came in the fourth inning, when Smith walked three batters--two were caught trying to steal--and then gave up a single, but the Dodgers still didn’t score.

So the Dodgers, who won 5 straight games to begin the trip, ended it losing 4 of the last 5. They were able to make do with outstanding pitching, both from starters and relievers, but finally their lack of offense wore them down. The Dodgers ended the trip with a .221 team batting average and scored just 5 runs in the last 4 games.

Leadoff hitter Steve Sax went 5 for 40 on the trip, and Gibson went 5 for 30 while nursing a strained muscle in his right buttock. Perhaps the injury contributing most to the drought is Mike Marshall’s strained right quadriceps muscle, upgraded to a fullfledged pulled muscle after the briefest cameo appearance possible Tuesday night.

Marshall, out eight games with the injury, had told Manager Tom Lasorda he was available to pinch-hit, if needed. He was needed in the eighth inning with two out and Mike Davis on third base.

Marshall stayed around for one pitch--a strike--before limping back to the dugout having aggravated the condition. Chris Gwynn, batting for Marshall, walked. Gibson eventually drove in the only run with the infield single that brought first baseman Gerald Perry off the bag. Neither Marshall nor trainers would estimate when Marshall will make another appearance.

The same could also be said for Orosco, who said he felt out of kilter after such a long layoff, and it showed. Blauser’s home run was his first this season and third in his brief career. The other two came against Houston’s Jim Deshaies and the Dodgers’ Fernando Valenzuela. On this one, Orosco had two strikes and two out in the eighth before Blauser deposited a slider 379 feet over the left-field fence to put the Braves ahead, 2-1, after they had blown a 1-0 lead a half-inning earlier.

“With the long layoff, it’s tough to come back,” Orosco said. “I just try to make the most of it when I get a chance to pitch. Even though I hadn’t pitched in awhile, I still have to go out there and try to do my best. You can’t give up and say, ‘I haven’t pitched in two weeks; I’m going to get ripped tonight.’ You can’t think that way.” Lately, Orosco doesn’t know what to think. He said he has no theories on why he had not been used, even though he had two saves in three appearances before the long layoff. Lasorda’s explanation is that the late-inning situations did not dictate bringing in Orosco, a left-hander.

“I talked to (Lasorda) before and got a couple day’s work,” Orosco said. “Then, it was 13 or 14 days off. But I want to stay read y and hope to contribute to winning the division.”

With a 5-game lead and 25 games remaining, the Dodgers still are in a good position to win the West.

But not if the offense continues to sputter. Not if Marshall’s injury, which worsened, keeps him out much longer. And not if their bullpen, which allowed just 1 earned run in 15 innings on the trip before the events of Tuesday night.

“Unless we go in the tank and somebody else plays great and we get a decimating injury to one of our key players, we’re going to win it,” Belcher said.

Added Fred Claire, the Dodgers’ executive vice president: “I think we have the ability and the offense to do it. I think we have all the ingredients. I don’t see any panic on the part of the players, Tommy or the staff. We’ve been without some of our offense. But we’ll get that back.”

It didn’t return and Belcher ended up with his sixth no-decision in his last nine starts. Belcher allowed a run in the first inning when Dion James’ tripled down the first-base line--first baseman Franklin Stubbs was late breaking for the ball--and Gerald Perry knocked James in with a double to left.

After that, Belcher was dominating. He allowed only one base runner in the next six innings. After needing 35 pitches to get out of the first-inning, Belcher threw just 65 pitches in the next six.

But the Dodgers were forced to pinch-hit for him in the eighth or risk being shut out by Smith, who also failed to get a decision despite pitching a three-hitter through 7 innings.

With Mike Davis, who hit for Belcher, on third after a double and a fly-ball out by Sax, Marshall made his first appearance since Aug. 28 in Philadelphia, when he suffered the strain running the bases.

“I pulled it tonight, just like I did in Philly,” Marshall said. “It’s a pull, not a strain. I don’t know what they (the trainers) told you before. It extends from my groin to the quadriceps muscle.

“I just think a game situation is different,” Marshall said. “In a game situation, you don’t test it. You go all out. I was just trying to help the team. I thought I could at least pinch hit.”

Dodger Notes

Catcher Mike Scioscia, hobbled by lingering soreness in his left foot that has worsened in recent days, wore a modified shoe to help ease the pressure and pain. Dodger trainers cut out a portion of the shoe’s heel, added foam padding to the area, then secured the shoe from sliding by applying tape on the outside of the shoe and Scioscia’s ankle. Charlie Strasser, the Dodgers’ assistant trainer, said it was only a temporary measure. He said Scioscia will by fitted with a more elaborate shoe by a foot specialist, perhaps as soon as today. Said Scioscia about his heel soreness: “The pain is there. It only affects me, basically, running. If it starts affecting something else, like hitting or catching, I might have to do something. But I can keep playing.”