Hit Batter Almost Sends Dodger Loss Out of Hand

Dodger pitcher Tim Crews, who had hit one batter since 1987, said it was a fastball that slipped. The Pittsburgh Pirates saw it as intent to harm.

The only one not offering an opinion on the pitch was Pittsburgh’s Gary Redus. He was carried from home plate on a stretcher in the seventh inning Monday night, his left eye bloodied and swollen by a 90-m.p.h. fastball from Crews.

The pitch caused a bench-clearing incident, an ejection and a showboat home run trot one inning later. Occurring in the final game of the season series between these teams, the pitch caused enough bad blood to last all winter.

The Dodgers eventually suffered a forgettable 7-4 loss that the Pirates say they will long remember.

Said Pittsburgh center fielder Andy Van Slyke: “The Dodgers were . . ., and I told them they were . . .; Redus looked worse than any of Mike Tyson’s victims.”

Said Dodger Mickey Hatcher: “Even though we didn’t try to hit him, it doesn’t matter. There is going to be a scar. Now we have to worry about retaliation. It’s a bad thing.”

The Pirates were leading at the time, 6-2, before 19,957 at Three Rivers Stadium. R.J. Reynolds drew a two-out walk, and then stole second and third bases on consecutive Crews’ pitches to Redus.

With a 1-and-1 count, Crews’ next pitch headed at Redus’ head. Redus had an instant to put up his left wrist, and the ball apparently glanced off the wrist.

But the ball landed directly on Redus’ eye. He crumpled by the right side of the plate, grabbing his face as he hit the ground. Trainers rushed to the plate while the Pirates’ players rushed onto the field. They were led by Van Slyke, who ran directly at Crews, stopped a few inches away, and began screaming at him.

“I told him it was bull to try to hit him, and he said he didn’t do it, and I said that he was full of bull,” Van Slyke said. “He hit him because we were stealing bases, he thought we were showing him up. But as this team has proven, we have lost a lot of four-run leads. We were just trying to score runs.”

Redus was rushed to Allegheny General Hospital, where late Monday he was listed in fair condition.

Van Slyke never touched Crews. The players pulled each other aside in bearhugs, but there was no brawl.

Said Crews: “After I hit him (Redus), I don’t know what happened. I don’t know what Van Slyke said. I just know, hitting him was the furthest thing from my mind. And to hit somebody in the head, that’s kind of scary.”

After the field was cleared, Pirate starter Bob Walk began yelling at Crews from the dugout.

“He was yelling, ‘I’ll take care of it next inning,’ ” first base umpire Gerry Davis said. “I told Leyland (Pirate Manager Jim) to take care of him, and he said he would, but then Walk started yelling at Crews again, telling him he was going to get even.”

So Davis ejected Walk. And that only made the Pirates madder, and it showed in the eighth inning. With two out, and Crews still pitching, Barry Bonds drove a ball into the left-field seats for his 14th homer. He could have walked around the bases in the time it took him to complete his home run trot.

When he crossed the plate, he glared at Crews and hurled his helmet.

“They are lucky I didn’t go around slower,” Bonds said afterward.

While sitting in front of his locker, Bonds later noticed a reporter from Los Angeles and shouted: “Get out of here. Nobody from L.A. should be in here. Go talk to your own damn players.”

Both Lasorda and Crews acted befuddled by the incident. They said they understood why the Pirates would try to pad their lead by stealing bases, and pointed to the game’s near dramatic finish as evidence. The Dodgers ended the ninth inning with runners on first and second and Kal Daniels flying out to Bonds on a running catch.

“Why would we be upset that they were stealing, what was the score?” Lasorda asked. “They didn’t have the game in the bag, Reynolds had to score. I bet my lungs that my kid was not trying to hit him.”

Said Crews: “They had to steal bases, I understood that. I didn’t even think about that.”

Lasorda said that he didn’t even notice Bonds’ slow trot--”What do I care how he runs the bases? Jimmy Piersall ran them backward, didn’t he? I don’t worry about that.”

But Lasorda warned that Walk was fortunate he didn’t try to get even.

“It would have been the biggest mistake of his life if he had,” Lasorda said. “And if he did, he better pick on the right guy.”

The only thing certain was that the disagreement between the teams is not over.

“Next time we play them, even if it is next year, we’re going to have to worry,” Hatcher said. “We all have families, we all have careers, and that’s going to make it hard. Unfortunately, these things just do not die.”

Dodger Notes

Dodger starter Mike Morgan failed to get past the fifth inning for a third consecutive start. He allowed three Pirate runs in the first inning on two singles, two walks and a sacrifice fly. He allowed two more runs in the fifth on two singles and a double. Then he was gone, having allowed five runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. In his last three starts, the former National League ERA leader is 0-3 with a 10.95 ERA. Overall he is 6-11 with a 2.61 ERA.

“The way I pitched in the first half of the season, I never thought I would hit a slump,” Morgan said. “I knew I wouldn’t cruise, but I didn’t expect this. I don’t know if I’m squeezing the ball or aiming the ball or what.” Pitching coach Ron Perranoski thinks Morgan should just slow down and relax. “In the first inning he was just getting the ball and throwing it, catch and throw, catch and throw,” Perranoski said. “I told him to start concentrating and when he did, it seemed to work. He needs to take his time.”

Trailing 7-2 in the ninth, the Dodgers began a comeback, breaking Pirate reliever Bill Landrum’s 30 2/3-inning scoreless streak in the process. Mike Scioscia doubled, Jeff Hamilton doubled, pinch-hitter Billy Bean walked, pinch-hitter Franklin Stubbs doubled and Willie Randolph walked to produce two runs and put runners on first and second for Kal Daniels, who earlier had a two-run double. Daniels drove the ball deep into the left-field corner, but Barry Bonds grabbed it as he crossed the foul line for the game’s final out. . . . The Dodgers split this six-game series with the Pirates but won the season series, 7-5.

Looking like a batboy but sounding like a veteran, Santa Ana’s Bean joined the Dodgers Monday--all 5 feet 11, 185 pounds of him. He was recalled from triple-A Albuquerque only a week after he was acquired from triple-A Toledo in a minor league trade with the Detroit organization.

This is the second time Bean has come to the major leagues because of an injury to Kirk Gibson. In 1987, Bean made his big league debut for Detroit by going four for six with two doubles on April 25 against Kansas City. At that time, Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson called Bean a future great player. Bean was sent back to the minor leagues 25 games later. He played only 10 big league games last season. He left the Tiger organization with a .247 average with no homers and four RBIs in 36 games. “Looking back, as much as those things Sparky said helped me, they also hurt me,” Bean said. “But he did give me a chance.” Bean says he’s ready for a new start where the expectations aren’t quite so high. Look for him to help out with late-inning defense--he has yet to make a major league error--and as a part-time starter. Bean is one of the top all-time hitters at Loyola Marymount. He was drafted in the fourth round by the Tigers when he graduated in June, 1986.