Pirates Are Believed by Dodgers, 6-3

As the baseball world marvels at the recent charge of the New York Mets, the Pittsburgh Pirates vied for attention at Dodger Stadium Friday night.

The Pirates, not the Mets, have been the leaders in the National League East. And they remained that way with a second consecutive victory over the Dodgers, 6-3 before 33,386.

All the talk concerns how the Mets have won 23 of their last 26 games. But the Pirates have proved resilient, winning 10 of their last 13 to remain in first place by a half-game.

“Everybody is talking about the Mets now, but they were talking about them before the season, and they will talk about them during the rest of the season,” Pirates Manager Jim Leyland said. “We just hope they are talking about us at the end of the season.”

After the past two days, the Dodgers are believers. The Pirates have rattled their pitching staff for 15 runs on 23 hits. They got 12 hits Friday night, including a 420-foot home run by Bobby Bonilla and three singles by fellow All-Star outfielder Barry Bonds.

In two nights, Bonilla has two homers, three RBIs and four runs scored. Bonds has five hits in nine at-bats with a homer and two runs scored.

With swings like that, who has time to think about the Mets?

“They didn’t show the Mets’ score on the scoreboard tonight, did they?” Bonds asked. “If they did, I didn’t see it. Who won?”

Although Dodger Stadium officials are often criticized for failing to show out-of-town scores, the Mets’ 10-7 victory over Atlanta was shown several times.

Maybe the Pirates were too busy watching pitcher John Smiley, who was making only his second appearance since returning from the disabled list July 1 after missing six weeks because of a broken left hand.

In seven innings, Smiley gave up one run on six singles, two of which never left the infield. The Dodgers didn’t score until the seventh inning, when they trailed by 6-0. Smiley improved to 4-3 with a 3.65 earned-run average and made the Pirates think that this season can only get better.

“He gave the whole team a boost,” Leyland said.

And he further deflated the Dodgers, who lost their third consecutive game, with nine losses in their last 14 games. They fell to 12 1/2 games behind the West-leading Cincinnati Reds, a season-high gap.

“When you are confident like (the Pirates), you act natural and just let it happen, like they did tonight,” Dodger catcher Rick Dempsey said. “As for us, we are pressing to win every darn game. We are trying to do too much, swinging at bad pitches, a pattern you see teams get into when they fall this far behind first place.”

Dodger starter Mike Morgan was Thursday’s victim, lasting only 3 2/3 innings after giving up five runs, three earned. He fell to 7-7 with a 3.46 ERA.

Last year he was 6-8 with a 1.79 ERA before the All-Star break, and only 2-3 with a 3.44 ERA after being shipped to the bullpen in the second half.

This year, in his first nine starts, he was 6-3 with a 3.48 ERA and a league-leading three shutouts and four complete games. In his next eight starts he has no shutouts or complete games. During that span he is 1-4 with a 3.44 ERA.

During this time he has been victimized by 10 unearned runs, or more than one per start, giving him a staff-leading 11 unearned runs on his ledger.

In the second inning, Bonilla singled, moved to third when Bonds singled, and walked home when Morgan was charged with a balk by home plate umpire Ed Montague.

R.J. Reynolds then grounded a ball between third baseman Mike Sharperson’s legs for an error. Reynolds stole second, advanced to third on a grounder by Dan Bilardello and scored on a single by Smiley.

Trailing 2-0, Morgan hurt himself again in the third by walking leadoff hitter Jay Bell, who later scored on a grounder by Bonilla.

The fourth inning was more of the same for Morgan. He gave up a leadoff single to Sid Bream and then threw a wild pitch that moved him to third. Wally Backman singled to score Bream and moved to third on a double by Bell. Backman then scored the final run charged against Morgan when a pitch from relief pitcher Ray Searage crossed up catcher Rick Dempsey and bounced off his glove, rolling to the backstop for what was ruled a passed ball.

The Pirates added a run in the seventh against relief pitcher Tim Crews on Bonilla’s home run.

“We may or may not get back in the pennant race, but we have to establish something in losing,” Dempsey said. “We can’t give up. I know we’re not this bad. I know we’re not.”

Dodger Notes

Tim Belcher will make his first start against the Pirates tonight since he was in the middle of a bench-clearing incident between the teams May 28 in Pittsburgh. Belcher said there will be no problems tonight as long as the Pirates don’t start any. “It’s over with,” Belcher said of the incident. “Unless they decide to drill me. Then, it’s back on.” The benches cleared in May when a pitch from Belcher sailed behind Don Slaught’s head in the fifth inning. There will be no such matchup today; Slaught is on the disabled list because of a bruised right hand.

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda on Whitey Herzog’s resignation as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals: “I was very, very much surprised. I don’t know why he would do it. He is one of the finest managers around. We had plans to have dinner together when I got to St. Louis in a couple of weeks. I still hope I can see him.” Lasorda, in his 14th year as Dodger manager, is the dean of active managers in terms of consecutive service with one team. But I am not burned up, and I can’t understand people getting burned up,” he said, intending to say that he isn’t “burned out.”

Look for Bill Russell’s name to be mentioned in connection with upcoming managerial job openings, particularly in San Diego, where the new ownership is from Los Angeles. Russell is in his third year as Dodger bench coach and would probably receive approval from the Dodgers to be interviewed by other clubs.

After a lengthy search, the Dodgers have found a left-handed batting practice pitcher for their home games--former Dodger Ron Roenicke, who retired last season at 33. Roenicke, an outfielder, spent five years in the major leagues, including a stint with the Dodgers from 1981-83.