Dodger Rally Falls Short as Mitchell Leads Giants

It’s a tossup who was sickened more by Kevin Mitchell’s ninth-inning, game-winning single Saturday night: The Dodgers, who lost to the Giants, 5-4, after spending the better part of the evening overcoming a 4-1 deficit, or Mitchell, who lost his lunch in left field after his tiebreaking hit off Jay Howell.

Now, that must have been a pretty sight for the fans in the left-field pavilion, who otherwise were treated to a September-style spectacle in April, one that didn’t end until Dodger-killer Craig Lefferts struck out Willie Randolph and Kirk Gibson with the tying run on base.

Mitchell, however, was hardly worried about offending spectator sensibilities. To the contrary.

“I wish I could have thrown up on them,” said Mitchell, who has had the distinction of playing for what are arguably the Dodgers’ three most hated rivals: the Giants, the Padres and the New York Mets.

All three uniforms have been known to inspire some creative commentary from Dodger crowds.

“It was the worst when I was with the Mets,” Mitchell said.

For the Dodgers, Lefferts has been unbeatable regardless of the uniform. Like Mitchell, Lefferts is an ex-Padre--he came to the Giants in the same deal--and after his artful rescue of Atlee Hammaker Saturday night, he is 8-0 in his career against the Dodgers.

“If I’d known that,” Giant Manager Roger Craig said, “I would have started him tonight.”

The Dodgers, at least, put men on base against Lefferts, something no one else had been able to do this season. The left-hander had come into the game having retired the last 29 batters to face him, a streak that ended when he walked the first batter he faced in the eighth, John Shelby.

That was right after pinch-hitter Rick Dempsey’s ground-ball single off Hammaker had scored Eddie Murray with the tying run. Murray, who had doubled home a run in the sixth, hit a ground-rule double with two out in the eighth, then beat Candy Maldonado’s throw to the plate on Dempsey’s hit.

Another Dodger pinch-hitter, Mickey Hatcher, had made it 4-3 in the seventh with a sacrifice fly after a single by Jeff Hamilton and a double by Alfredo Griffin.

Hamilton came up in the eighth with a chance to break the tie, and hit a shot off Lefferts, but Mitchell ran it down in left to end the inning.

In the bottom of the ninth, pinch-hitter Mariano Duncan hit a one-out single off Lefferts, but Randolph took a back-door slider for a called third strike, and Gibson, who had doubled home a run in the first and singled and scored in the sixth, went down swinging on another slider.

While the Giants celebrated, Gibson reacted in the fashion for which he has become notorious. He flung his bat down, kicked it, threw his helmet against the dugout wall, then for good measure kicked the helmet, too.

Someone asked Lefferts if he had noticed Gibson’s reaction to the strikeout.

“He looked mad,” the pitcher said in classic understatement.

The Giants looked vulnerable to be taken after building a 4-1 lead against Dodger starter Tim Leary with two runs in the first inning and Will Clark’s two-run homer in the third. The Dodgers had eight base-runners in the last four innings, knocking Giant starter Scott Garrelts out in the seventh and then putting Hammaker on the ropes.

But in the ninth, Ernest Riles hit a broken-bat single off Howell; Brett Butler sacrificed pinch-runner Donell Nixon to second, and after Howell induced Robby Thompson to pop to second, he issued an intentional walk to Clark.

That brought up Mitchell, who entered the game with a league-leading 19 RBIs, a total he already had added to with a first-inning sacrifice fly.

“I get tired of them walking Will, too,” he said.

He didn’t get much of the curveball that Howell threw him, but it was enough to bounce a ground ball through the middle. Shelby’s throw from center field was way off line, and Nixon scored easily.

“I still don’t feel good,” said Mitchell, who was bothered by a stomach virus.

With Candy Maldonado still looking for his first home run, the Giants are depending heavily on Mitchell--who already has five--to provide some punch behind Clark.

“He’s not afraid of anything,” Manager Craig said.

Not even the fans in the pavilion.