Dodgers Win Again; Tudor Leaves Early With a Sore Elbow

John Tudor is tentatively scheduled to pitch the National League playoff opener for the Dodgers against the New York Mets.

There is also some tentativeness to his next scheduled start in Cincinnati Sunday, which is the immediate concern.

Tudor pitched only five innings of the Dodgers’ two-hit, 2-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves Tuesday night before leaving with a tender left elbow.

Ramon Martinez and Jay Howell wrapped up a win that extended the Dodgers lead over Houston in the National League West to 6 1/2 games. The Cincinnati Reds, who defeated the Astros, remained 8 back.

A Dodger Stadium crowd of 22,758 saw Mike Scioscia hit a two-run, fifth-inning homer off John Smoltz to provide the only runs Tudor and his successors needed.

Asked if he was concerned about the latest flareup of a condition that has bothered Tudor periodically, Manager Tom Lasorda said: “Yes, I don’t know how he feels, but he’ll probably pitch his next start. I’m betting he’ll pitch.”

Tudor had left the clubhouse by the time the game ended, but he told trainer Bill Buhler that he intends to pitch Sunday.

“All he really said was that he wasn’t feeling right but that he’ll be ready to go Sunday,” Buhler said. “We iced him down and said good night.”

Tudor was in the on-deck circle when Scioscia broke the scoreless tie with his third home run. He immediately left for a pinch-hitter.

“I don’t know when his arm began hurting but after we scored the two runs I wasn’t going to take a chance,” Lasorda said. “He would have gone back out there, but I wasn’t going to risk it.”

Tudor allowed two singles, the only Atlanta hits, and walked three. He has a deceiving 9-8 record and has the league’s third-best earned-run average (2.27). He is now 3-3 as a Dodger, having lost twice by a score of 2-1.

“He wasn’t as sharp and wasn’t feeling as strong as he has,” Scioscia said of Tudor’s start Tuesday night, “but he kept ‘em off the board for five innings and that’s all you can ask of a pitcher.”

Only time will determine how the elbow condition affects the Dodgers’ tentative playoff rotation. They still have work to do in the division and won’t talk about or confirm the plan to go with Tudor in the opener and 20-game winner Orel Hershiser in Game 2.

Said Hershiser, however: “I’ve already been told it might happen that way and I have no problem with it.”

By using the left-handed Tudor in Game 1 he would be available for three starts against a team considered to be more vulnerable to left-handed pitching.

Tudor, who has a career record of 8-6 against the Mets, is currently scheduled to make his last regular- season start Sept. 28 against San Diego. He would pitch the playoff opener on five days rest. Hershiser makes his last start of the regular season Sept. 30, meaning he would start Game 2 on four days rest.

“Things aren’t always as they seem,” cautioned pitching coach Ron Perranoski, who implied that Hershiser could pitch three innings on the 30th and still start the playoff opener.

In that case, however, he would be facing the Mets on three days rest, with Tudor pitching Game 2 on an improbable six days rest.

It is all speculative at this point.

One certainty is that the Dodgers have one last opportunity tonight to continue their dominance of the hapless Braves.

The victory Tuesday night was the Dodgers’ 13th in 17 games with Atlanta.

Martinez and Howell each pitched two hitless innings after Tudor left. Howell gained his 19th save and sustained his best streak of an impressive season. In the 13 innings of his last 10 games he has allowed only 3 hits and no runs while striking out 18.

Scioscia, who belted his third homer following a walk to Jeff Hamilton, was returning to the lineup after missing four straight games because of a bursitis swelling on the back of his left heel.

Scioscia is wearing a specially designed baseball shoe to cope with a condition that will not disappear until he is able to rest it completely over the winter.

“I know I’m going to feel it,” he said, “but I’m confident I can keep it at a level that will allow me to go out and play.”

Of his homer off the 21-year-old Smoltz (2-5), Scioscia said: “He challenged me with a fastball and if I was him I would have challenged me, too. I haven’t been swinging well, but I managed to get the bat head out front.”

Scioscia took an easy tour of the bases, taking the pressure off his heel. As several teammates have noted, the injury will not have an impact on his lack of speed.

Dodger Notes

Ex-Chicago Cub great Ernie Banks took batting practice with the Dodgers in preparation for a charity home run hitting contest with cricket star Graham Gooch in Surrey, England, Sept. 25. “I brought a Cub uniform, but Tommy (Lasorda) wouldn’t let me put it on,” Banks said of his Dodger uniform. Said Lasorda: “Ernie Banks was an All-Star many times, hit 500 home runs and made the Hall of Fame, but he always dreamed of wearing Dodger blue. What’s that organization? Make a Wish Come True?” . . . Orel Hershiser (20-8) faces Rick Mahler (9-14) in the home-stand finale tonight.