Lack of Pena Real Pain in Dodger Loss

The game featured 39 players, including 12 pitchers, two pinch-hitters who never batted and one pinch-runner who never ran. But Thursday’s marathon, in which the San Diego Padres beat the Dodgers, 8-6, was decided by a guy who wasn’t there: Alejandro Pena.

The former middle reliever’s presence might have helped the Dodgers hold a two-run lead. Instead, the lead was squandered in the sixth inning before 37,204 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

The official deciding runs came in the eighth inning against reliever Don Aase on Joe Carter’s first hit as a Padre, a two-run bouncing single through a drawn-in infield. The hit followed a botched double-play grounder.

But the game was blown when Aase was still wearing his warmup jacket.

After Kal Daniels’ two-run, pinch-hit double in the sixth inning had given the Dodgers a 6-4 lead, somebody was needed to stop the Padres. Last year that somebody was Pena, but he has been traded with the more celebrated Mike Marshall to the New York Mets for Juan Samuel.

On Thursday, rookie pitcher Mike Hartley stood where Pena would have in the bottom of the sixth. Six pitches later, Joey Cora jogged to first base with a walk. Four pitches later, Roberto Alomar hit a forkball into the right-field stands for a two-run homer to tie the score.

“You can’t bring your stopper into the game in the sixth,” lamented Tom Lasorda, Dodger manager.

As the Dodgers (2-2) travel to Houston for a weekend series, they wear the first black eye in an otherwise healthy start.

The starting pitching is fine. Ramon Martinez gave up two runs in five innings Thursday to join Orel Hershiser, Tim Belcher and Fernando Valenzuela with effective starts this week. The four have given up five runs in 25 innings for a 1.80 earned-run average.

The Dodgers collected 12 hits Thursday, including Eddie Murray’s first homer of the season.

But the bullpen is struggling. After Martinez departed, the five relievers gave up five runs in four innings with seven walks. The game took 3 hours 34 minutes, tying a Padre record for a nine-inning home game.

Hartley’s nightmare was followed by decent outings from left-hander Ray Searage and John Wetteland, who allowed one hit in two innings. But Aase and rookie Mike Munoz, both of whom had a chance to fill Pena’s set-up role, allowed four runs in one inning with five walks.

For those who remember Pena only as a pitcher who took an hour between throws, note that among active pitchers with 750 or more innings, only teammate Orel Hershiser, Dwight Gooden and Dan Quisenberry have lower earned-run averages than his 2.93. And note that last year, in the 68 games the Dodgers led after six innings, they lost only nine.

“To get something of value like a Samuel, you’ve got to give up something of value, and we knew what we were giving up in Pena,” said Fred Claire, Dodger vice president. “But I don’t think the situation should be exaggerated. With Jim Gott hurting, we’re trying to get people in there, and some days they do it, and some days they don’t.”

Gott, who was signed this winter to be the next Pena, is still recovering from last year’s elbow surgery and likely will not be ready until next month at the earliest. The Dodgers also were missing sore-shouldered stopper Jay Howell, although because they never got the lead in the late innings, he might not have pitched anyway. He said he should be ready to make his first appearance this weekend.

“I think some of our younger pitchers just have to go out there and go through the hard times,” Howell said. “All of us did it. It is just a matter of confronting it.”

The Dodgers regret that this learning process must come during the regular season. Particularly in the middle of a comeback like Thursday’s, in which they fell behind, 2-0, after three innings on Fred Lynn’s homer and Alomar’s single.

The comeback began with a run in the fifth inning on Willie Randolph’s two-out RBI single. It scored Alfredo Griffin, who had begun the inning by extending his hitting streak to four games with a single.

Then came the sixth inning, which started with Murray’s homer off just-entered reliever Mark Grant. A couple of walks later, Daniels, who didn’t start to rest his knees, pinch hit against left-handed pitcher Pat Clements.

“I hate pinch-hitting,” said Daniels. “But, hey, I’ll do anything.”

His line drive in the right-field gap scored both runs to make it 4-2. Hartley entered in the bottom of the inning, his first appearance of 1990 before his hometown fans.

“It was not a classic start for me, that’s for sure,” Hartley said.

The tie was broken in the eighth inning after Aase had walked Alomar. Tony Gwynn hit a slow roller to Aase’s right. He grabbed it and spun and fired to second base . . . where both Randolph and Griffin stood. Griffin stuck his glove in front of Randolph’s glove, the ball went into right field and one walk later the bases were loaded for Carter.

“We just got confused. I was supposed to cover second base, but Willie thought I was going to help the pitcher,” said Griffin.

Dodger Notes

With Ramon Martinez’s first pitch to Rick Dempsey Thursday, Dempsey became the third catcher in modern baseball history to catch a game in four decades. Tim McCarver and Carlton Fisk are the others. Dempsey rolled that first ball to the Dodger dugout, where pitcher Tim Belcher saved it for him. “It really sunk in there, with that first pitch,” said Dempsey, 40. “That ball is going to mean an awful lot to me.” . . . The Padres stole three bases in the first six innings. In an attempt to stop runners Joey Cora and Roberto Alomar, Dempsey threw one ball into center field for an error, and afterward was left muttering to himself. “I should have had at least two of those attempts,” he said. “I just haven’t thrown in a while . . . Nobody ran on me in spring training, and it’s hard to get the rhythm right away.” Only one of the steals led directly to a run. In four plate appearances, Dempsey singled and walked.