Giants Beat Dodgers on a Big Hit by Little-Known Laga

There’s a funny thing about baseball pennant races. They sometimes don’t look like pennant races.

Look closely enough and you will notice, pennant races sometimes look like guys named Mike Laga. The Giants realized that Tuesday night in a 3-2 victory over the Dodgers in front of 20,668 at Candlestick Park.

Trailing, 2-0, in the fifth inning, the Giants loaded the bases with two out against Orel Hershiser. To the shock of anyone who can count to four, Matt Williams was removed for a pinch-hitter. This was the same Williams who has 16 homers and 43 runs batted in in just 74 games, including a grand slam against the Dodgers last month.

The substitute? A 29-year-old career minor leaguer named Laga.

For a few moments, there was silence. Then there were cheers that Laga will probably hear until October, as he drove a pitch by Hershiser against the right-field wall for a double, clearing the bases and giving the Giants the eventual victory.

The National League West leaders, maintaining a five-game lead over the San Diego Padres with just 11 games remaining, have a magic number of seven. And they have a magic man who celebrated the biggest hit of his career as if he were a wide receiver in an end zone.

After being removed for a pinch-runner, Laga ran off the field pumping his helmet into the air with his left hand. When the crowd wouldn’t sit, he reappeared and pumped his helmet again.

“I’ve never had a curtain call before,” an embarrassed Laga acknowledged. “But I’ve seen Kevin Mitchell and Will Clark do enough to know how.”

In the other clubhouse, Hershiser shrugged.

“This is the kind of thing that happens in championship seasons,” he said. “You get big efforts from young guys and role players. I know because it happened to us a year ago.”

Although he has lost six consecutive decisions--his last win was Aug. 8--this was a different night for Hershiser. For once, his loss was his own fault.

Staked to a two-run lead in the first inning--more runs than the offense had scored for him in his previous five starts combined--Hershiser simply gave it back. He started the fifth by giving up a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Ken Oberkfell, who is hitting .313 in 72 games since joining the team from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Then he walked Brett Butler.

A bad bunt by Robby Thompson forced Oberkfell at third, but then Hershiser walked Will Clark, loading the bases. A big strikeout of Kevin Mitchell later, Hershiser looked strong.

But Williams, two-for-17 lifetime against Hershiser, was summoned back to the bench. Laga, who had been in the on-deck circle the previous inning until the Giants’ third out, was ready.

The batter and pitcher had never faced each other, but Hershiser, who fell behind him 2-and-0, said it didn’t matter.

“There’s no creative way to pitch with the bases loaded, no matter who is up--Will Clark, Babe Ruth or Mike Laga,” he said. “Then when you fall behind 2-and-0, no scouting report will help.”

Laga remembers only that he hit a sinker. The rest, well, “Let’s just say I was a happy camper,” he said.

Of course, this being a pennant race, it isn’t as if Laga hasn’t won a game for the Giants before. All four of his hits since his September recall have driven in runs.

In his first at-bat as a Giant, Sept. 4 in Cincinnati, he hit a two-run homer to begin a rally from an 8-0 deficit. He later drove in the winning run with a single in a 9-8 victory that many have credited with being the start of the Giants’ stretch run.

He may not be feeling all that great in a couple of weeks, because he was recalled from triple-A Phoenix Sept. 1 and won’t be eligible for the playoffs. But having jumped from the major leagues to the minor leagues for the last eight years, he’ll adjust.

“When you’ve always been behind somebody,” he said, “you’re grateful for any chance to show what you can do.”

Dodger Notes

Giant starter Mike LaCoss (8-10), who allowed 11 hits in five innings, was the winning pitcher--his first win since Aug. 11--but was saved by four innings of scoreless relief by Craig Lefferts and Steve Bedrosian.

Mickey Hatcher’s season probably ended after he left Candlestick Park before Tuesday’s game with what was diagnosed by Giants’ physician Will Straw as a hernia. Hatcher probably suffered it while lifting furniture at his home. Hatcher returned to Los Angeles this morning where he will be examined by Dodger team physician Michael Mellman. Hatcher never fully recovered from a strained left hamstring that sidelined him for 15 days in August. He was batting .322 when he came off the disabled list Aug. 21, but since then, he had gone 10 for 48 (.208) to drop his average to .297 in 91 games.

Mike Davis, who can pinch-hit but still can’t play the outfield because of a sore left knee, said he was considering playing for one of the two Dodger teams in the Arizona Instructional League after the season. “I still can’t sprint, and I need to find some way to get this leg better for next season,” said Davis, who has no idea where he will play next season. His contract expires but, because he was a free agent two seasons ago, he cannot be a free agent unless the Dodgers release him. He said he will discuss the situation with Dodger officials in a couple of weeks but hinted that he wouldn’t want to return unless he has a chance to play.”Los Angeles is a great place to play, with emphasis on the phrase, ‘place to play,’ ” Davis said. “I’ve been sitting for two years, and that’s sad.”