Eighth-Inning Rally Gives Cubs Win, 6-3

While the Dodger bullpen may be one of the best in the league, it remains the worst place for a Dodger starter.

Tim Leary, making his first relief appearance since being moved to the bullpen last week, in place of disgruntled starter Tim Belcher, illustrated Monday night what Belcher had been complaining about.

Leary paved the way for the Chicago Cubs to break a 3-3 tie by loading the bases in the eighth inning and then walking in the go-ahead run before 39,914 at Dodger Stadium. The Cubs took it from there, getting two more runs to walk away with a 6-3 victory.

Leary started trouble by walking Lloyd McClendon to start the eighth, after replacing Dodger starter Ramon Martinez in the seventh and setting down the Cubs in order. Then he allowed a single up the middle by Mark Grace. After Damon Berryhill bunted the runners to second and third, Leary intentionally walked Mitch Webster to load the bases for Curtis Wilkerson, who entered the game hitting .129 against right-handed pitchers such as Leary.

But Leary treated him as if his first name was Babe, and walked him on four consecutive pitches to score a run. Things quickly fell apart from there, as the Cubs scored two more runs in the inning with reliever Ray Searage pitching, on an RBI fly in a rare pinch hit performance by Andre Dawson and on an RBI single by Domingo Ramos.

The Dodgers should have known they were in trouble from the start. The Cubs scored before the game was 15 minutes old, on a 400-foot, three-run homer to center fence by Mark Grace. The first-inning blast came off rookie Martinez, who certainly wouldn’t have imagined that kind of flight on his on his flight here from triple-A Albuquerque Sunday morning.

The Dodgers countered with runs in the first, third and sixth innings to tie it, although they blew twice as many chances. In the first, off Cubs starter Scott Sanderson, Eddie Murray followed Willie Randolph’s single with an RBI double. In the third they teamed up again, with Randolph hitting a single to center, being balked to second, and scoring on Murray’s single, giving Murray a team-leading 51 RBIs.

They finally tied it in the sixth, against reliever Steve Wilson, when Jeff Hamilton followed Jose Gonzalez’s pinch single with a double to left.

But at that point, they were frustrated than happy, as they had left runners in scoring position in four of the first six innings.

Lost in the late-inning mess was the early inning mess of Martinez, making his first start since Sunday’s recall.

Martinez had been up here once before, but just for a minute. He was recalled from Albuquerque June 4 to help the Dodgers weary pitching staff following their 22-inning game in Houston a day earlier. He threw a six-hit shutout against the Atlanta Braves June 5, and was sent back down the next day. He will stay longer this time, if only for his pure entertainment value.

In just six innings, Martinez managed to throw 90 pitches. You’d throw that many, too, if you walked five, struck out five, hit one batter in the helmet and allowed another one to drive the ball 400 feet. Allowing three runs on just three hits, he was never boring.

The first batter he faced, Jerome Walton, stuck out his bat and dribbled a ball down the third base line that finally stopped just inside the bag for a single. After Ryne Sandberg flied to right, Martinez walked McClendon on four straight pitches.

Next was Grace, who was batting .424 against the Dodgers this year, including .400 at Dodger Stadium. After one pitch, a strike, Grace had seen all he needed to see. He sent the next ball over the center field wall, just above a leaping Kirk Gibson, for his fourth homer.

Martinez retired the next two batters on groundouts, but his idea of fun was just beginning.

He started the second by allowing a single to center by third baseman Wilkerson, an occasional starter. After Shawon Dunston forced Wilkerson at second on a grounder, Sanderson bunted Dunston to second with two out.

It was time for the scare of the night. With Walton batting, Martinez uncorked an 0-and-1 fastball that smacked him in the side of a batting helmet. Walton crumpled in front of the plate with his hands over his face, but a few minutes later was trotting down to first base, perhaps thankful this wasn’t the good old days when helmets were for sissies.

With runners on first and second, Sandberg ended the threat with a grounder to third that started Martinez on a roll. He retired 11 of his next 15 batters before leaving for a pinch-hitter in the sixth. The four who reached base were walked there.

That stretch included five strikeouts, including three in the fourth after a leadoff walk to Webster. He struck out Wilkerson swinging, Dunston swinging and Sanderson looking.

Dodger Notes

Pitcher Orel Hershiser remained home Monday with the stomach flu, but told a club spokesman that he still planned to make his scheduled start against Chicago today. “We’ll have to see how weak he is,” pitching coach Ron Perranoski said of Hershiser. . . . Sore-shouldered pitcher John Tudor continues to work out with the team, but is still as many as two weeks away from picking up a baseball.