Dodgers’ Strength Shows, 4-2 : Gibson Hits Homer, Leary Pitches L.A. Past Philadelphia

It wasn’t exactly a night of firsts for the Dodgers, but for the first time in a long time Wednesday night:

--Tim Leary won, combining with reliever Jay Howell to beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2, for his first victory in six starts.

--Kirk Gibson hit a home run, his first since coming off the disabled list Tuesday, his first since April 10 and his first at Dodger Stadium since last Oct. 15, when his dramatic home run off Dennis Eckersley of the Oakland Athletics gave the Dodgers a 5-4 victory in Game 1 of the World Series.

--Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda filled out a lineup card that included the names of Gibson, Eddie Murray and Mike Marshall. He had done that only 11 times previously in 41 games, and not once since April 25.

“We’re trying to get some runs,” Lasorda said beforehand of a lineup that featured Gibson, who is not fully recovered from a strained left hamstring injury, as the starting center fielder.

They got them, if not exactly in large bunches.

Willie Randolph drove in two without hitting the ball out of the infield, and Gibson and Jeff Hamilton contributed solo home runs.

All of this was against Phillie starter Larry McWilliams, who two weeks ago limited the Dodgers to five hits in a 2-0 victory at Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, Leary gave up six hits in eight innings, walked four and struck out six before he was helped in the ninth by Howell, who got the final three outs for his fifth save in five opportunities, and extended his scoreless-innings streak to 13.

“It was amazing I made it to the ninth inning,” said Leary, who hadn’t won since April 16, when he beat the Houston Astros. “Fortunately, they hit some balls right at people. It’s been tough the last few outings, when I kept us in the game but didn’t win. You get in a drought like that and it’s tough to keep your head up.”

Leary lifted his head in the second inning, when Dwayne Murphy hit a mammoth home run over the 395-foot sign in center field.

“I can’t believe he hit it that far on a 3-and-2 count,” Leary said. “I was a little more careful with him after that.”

The Phillies didn’t score again until the ninth.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, caught up during an unusual third inning, which started innocently enough, with Mike Scioscia walking and Mariano Duncan ending a four-for-31 slump by doubling down the left-field line.

Leary then slapped a sharp grounder to first baseman Von Hayes, whose throw to the plate arrived so far ahead of Scioscia that the Dodger catcher beat a hasty retreat back to third base. There, however, stood Duncan, who quickly made his way back toward second.

Duncan eventually was tagged out in a rundown between second and third and Leary, who had at one point stood at second, wound up at first.

Scioscia scored on a single by Randolph, who lined a pitch off the right leg of McWilliams.

The inning came to a strange end when catcher Darren Daulton fielded Mickey Hatcher’s chopper in front of the plate, tagged the stationary Hatcher, who apparently believed the ball was foul, and threw to third baseman Mike Schmidt, who tagged Leary to complete a double play.

After all that, the game was tied, 1-1.

Gibson put the Dodgers ahead, 2-1, in the fourth, sending a pitch by McWilliams into the right-field pavilion. The home run was Gibson’s third of the season and his first since a solo shot against the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park last April.

“I threw him a fastball to challenge him,” McWilliams said. “I didn’t want to walk him. That was his pitch and he hit it out.”

Duncan led off the fifth with his second hit, dropping a bunt down the third-base line. Then, after advancing to third on a sacrifice by Leary and a wild pitch, he scored on a well-executed squeeze by Randolph, who bunted along the first-base line.

Hamilton’s seventh-inning home run to left field gave the Dodgers a 5-1 lead. It was his second home run in five games.

“Up until the last six or seven games, it’s been ugly,” Hamilton said of his lack of offensive productivity. “The at-bat before (when he grounded to the pitcher) was real bad and I didn’t swing good.

“I was jumping around up there.”

Dodger Notes

Manager Tom Lasorda said Kirk Gibson would again play center field tonight, substituting for the struggling John Shelby, who is hitting .171 and has struck out an average of once every four at-bats. “He can go get the ball as good as any of them,” Lasorda said of Gibson, who said he frequently played center field with the Detroit Tigers. “You saw him run that ball down out there tonight. That was a hell of a catch.” Gibson made a diving catch of a sinking line drive by Chris James in the eighth inning. . . .

Add Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies to the list of those who believe that Fernando Valenzuela’s lack of success is because of the ineffectiveness of his fastball. “When he was at the top of his game,” Schmidt said of Valenzuela, who has not won since last June 14, “you had to respect his fastball because he could back you off the plate. And that made his screwball so much more effective. You can wait on him because you can say, ‘He doesn’t have a fastball I need to think about.’ ” . . . In five of Valenzuela’s eight starts, including a 4-1 loss to the Phillies Tuesday night, the Dodgers have scored one run or fewer. And in his next start, Sunday against the New York Mets, Valenzuela (0-4) will oppose Dwight Gooden.

Lasorda, on former Dodger Ken Howell, who beat Los Angeles for the second time in two weeks Tuesday night and is 5-2 in his first season with the Phillies: “It’s good to see him winning, but not against us.” . . . Among Dodger opponents, only George Foster, who hit 23, has hit more home runs at Dodger Stadium than Schmidt, who has hit 22. . . . The Dodgers purchased the contract of minor league infielder Jim Pankovits from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pankovits, 33, was assigned to Albuquerque.