Delay or Not, Dodgers Get Their Sweep

ATLANTA —  Late Night with the Dodgers, continued:

Their first game against the Atlanta Braves Monday night was delayed by rain for 1 hour 45 minutes, so it wasn’t until 1:44, EDT, Tuesday morning that they completed a doubleheader sweep of the Braves.

Rookie Ramon Martinez, called up from the minors to fill a temporary hole in the rotation, pitched a six-hitter, and the Dodgers pounded out 13 hits to win the opener, 7-0, stopping a four-game losing streak, which included a 22-inning loss to the Houston Astros that ended Sunday at 2:52 a.m., CDT, and a 13-inning loss to the Astros that ended less than 15 hours later.

In the second game here, the Dodgers overcame a 2-0 deficit, getting home runs from Kirk Gibson, John Shelby and Jeff Hamilton in a 5-2 victory.

“It will be nice to get some rest and not have to worry about getting up early,” Shelby said.

Martinez, who flew to Atlanta Sunday from Albuquerque, walked only one batter and struck out nine. The Braves, who had six singles, didn’t get a runner to third base until the bottom of the ninth inning.

Give credit to catcher Mike Scioscia, Martinez said.

“Every pitch he called, I just threw,” he said.

In his last start, although Scioscia wasn’t there, Martinez allowed only an infield single in seven innings last Tuesday night in a 9-1 victory by the Albuquerque Dukes over the Las Vegas Stars.

Martinez, 21, was optioned in the last week of spring training to Albuquerque, where the Dodgers hoped he would improve his curveball.

Was he disappointed then?

“A little bit,” he said.

Obviously, though, he wasn’t overly so, compiling an 8-1 record and a 2.61 earned-run average with 88 strikeouts in 76 innings.

“I feel more confidence because I’ve got better stuff, better control and a better curveball,” Martinez said upon his return.

All of which was noticed by Ron Perranoski.

“From spring training to now, he showed a lot more poise and presence on the mound,” the Dodger pitching coach said. “He took command and went right after those guys. He got ahead of the hitters and made a lot of good pitches.”

Scioscia said that Martinez’s curveball “still isn’t to the point where we think it should be, but he had command of his fastball in and out, and his changeup was just tremendous.

“He’s made great strides.”

Nor was Scioscia surprised.

“He showed signs of throwing the ball well at the end of last season and also in spring training,” he said of Martinez, who made six starts for the Dodgers last season. “In the Freeway Series, he pitched well against the Angels, but he just needed some work.”

Such as what?

“He needed a little more confidence,” Scioscia said. “He needed to be more consistent with his fastball, moving it around and hitting location. He just needed to fine-tune things.”

Although the Dodgers are happy with their rotation and Martinez’s stay was only temporary--he will be sent back to Albuquerque today--he seems to have put things in order.

“Atlanta has a good lineup,” Scioscia said. “He wasn’t exactly pitching against the ’62 Mets out there.”

The Braves, though, weren’t much more productive.

They scored their only runs on a two-run double by pitcher John Smoltz, who gave them a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning of the second game.

Against another Dodger rookie, right-hander John Wetteland, who was recalled last week, Darrell Evans opened the inning with a single to right field that rolled through the legs of right fielder Franklin Stubbs.

Two outs later, Wetteland intentionally walked Jody Davis, bringing up Smoltz, who bounced a double off the wall.

Wetteland, making his first major league start, said he served up a fastball down the middle to Smoltz after shaking off a sign from catcher Rick Dempsey.

“It was pretty stupid of me to shake off a player with that kind of experience,” said Wetteland, who gave up only two hits while walking two and striking out five in five innings.

The Dodgers tied it in the sixth, getting a two-run inside-the-park home run from Gibson, whose towering drive to deep center field was misjudged by center fielder Dale Murphy and caromed off the wall.

The home run, which scored Willie Randolph, was Gibson’s fifth of the season, but his first with any runners on base.

In the seventh, Hamilton’s infield single was followed by a two-run home run by Shelby, who lofted a pitch over the wall in left field for his first homer since last Sept. 26.

Hamilton’s home run in the ninth was his sixth.

Tim Leary, in his first relief appearance in more than a year, worked three innings to even his record at 4-4. Jay Howell got the last two outs for his 10th save.

Dodger Notes

Executive Vice President Fred Claire announced after the second game that Ramon Martinez would be optioned to Albuquerque and that the Dodgers, who were carrying 11 pitchers, would recall a position player, probably Tracy Woodson or Mike Sharperson. “I think he’s best served by starting,” Claire said of Martinez. . . . Among the crowd of 10,340 were Dorothy and Mitch Wetteland, the Dodger rookie’s mother and brother, who flew from San Francisco Monday to watch him make his first major league start. . . . Jeff Hamilton had two hits in each game, and the Braves had only four hits in the second game. . . . First-game injuries: Dodger center fielder Chris Gwynn left in the second inning with a bruised right foot; Brave first baseman Gerald Perry left in the fifth with a slightly separated left shoulder that he injured while diving for a double by Mike Scioscia, and Brave catcher Bruce Benedict left in the eighth, complaining of dizziness after several foul balls hit him in the head. Gwynn played in the second game, striking out when he pinch-hit in the sixth inning. . . . Mike Davis of the Dodgers ended an 0-for-23 streak when he singled to center in the sixth inning of the first game.