Murray Erupts On, Off Field : Baseball: He backs Belcher with a two-run homer as Dodgers beat Pirates, 4-2, then decries his performance during season’s first half.

Eddie Murray ended the first half of the Dodgers’ season with perhaps his hardest hitting night yet, leading the Dodgers to a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates Saturday night.

On the field, he hit a long two-run homer and added a run-scoring single. Off the field, he ripped the cover off his first-half performance.

When asked to evaluate his statistics after 81 games, which include 11 homers and a team-leading 41 runs batted in, Murray said: “You can’t print it. They (the statistics) stink.”

He added: “I should be doing a lot better than I am. That’s the way I look at it. I am not, by any means, happy. But I guess things could always be worse.”

The only statistics that would directly support that opinion might be his performance with runners in scoring position. Entering Saturday, he was batting only .246 in that category, with two homers and 28 RBIs in 69 at-bats.

But Saturday he was perfect in that area. In the first inning against starter and loser Walt Terrell, with Kirk Gibson on second after he singled and stole his sixth base, Murray drove a pitch into the right-field stands.

That hit gave the Dodgers and eventual winner Tim Belcher a 2-0 lead, which Murray expanded in the third with Lenny Harris on third base after a double and Kal Daniels on first after a walk. Murray reached across the plate and lined Terrell’s pitch into center field to score Harris and move Daniels to second. Daniels later scored the Dodgers’ fourth run on Mike Scioscia’s sacrifice fly.

Belcher needed nothing more, as he pitched his second consecutive complete game even though he said he still didn’t have his best fastball. He said that perhaps his “dead arm” has been a blessing, which he proved by fooling the Pirates on a variety of other pitches. He gave up seven hits and struck out five, improving to 7-6 with a 3.85 earned-run average.

Not that any of the Dodgers will acknowledge that this game, which gave them a 39-42 record and kept them 12 1/2 games out of first place in the National League West, is an omen for the next 81 games.

“Right now, this is just a ‘W,’ nothing more,” Murray said. “Maybe in a couple of weeks, if we get on a winning streak, we can look back and see if this started it. But right now, the win is nothing more than that.”

When Belcher was asked if the victory was a springboard to bigger things, he shook his head.

“We need more than a springboard,” he said. “We need a rocket strapped on our tail . . . and we need to put an anchor on Cincinnati (West leader).

“We have to get real hot. Somebody has to hit 10 to 15 homers and a couple of starters have got to get real hot.”

Belcher sighed and said, “I just hope it’s not too late.”

Murray could be one of those players who is getting hot. Thus far in the nine games of this 10-game home stand, he is hitting .375 to improve his average to .293. It was Murray’s third three-RBI night of the season, and his first since June 6. The homer puts Murray on a pace to get at least 20 homers for the 13th time in his 14 major league seasons. He is also on a pace to accumulate more than 80 RBIs for the 13th time.

Yet he said he is looking forward to the All-Star break.

“You would be surprised what two days off will heal,” he said. “It can even heal a brain. You get to where you are thinking too much up there.”

Terrell could use a break. The pitcher whose last victory was against the Dodgers May 30 in Pittsburgh lasted only 2 1/3 innings, which was not even his shortest outing of the season. He gave up four runs on five hits with two walks, dropping his record to 2-7 while raising his earned-run average to 5.86.

Belcher, meanwhile, established himself in the first inning, after R.J. Reynolds led off with a single to center and was bunted to second base by Jay Bell. With two out, Bobby Bonilla, who is hitting .310 against the Dodgers this season with two homers in the last two nights, struck out on three pitches.

Belcher cruised until the fourth, when he gave up a leadoff single by Bell and then a double by Andy Van Slyke. With runners on second and third, none out and Pirate All-Stars Bonilla and Barry Bonds due up, it would have been understandable for Belcher to show his nerves.

He showed only his fastball. He struck out Bonilla for a second consecutive time before Bonds hit a sacrifice fly. After walking Bream, he retired Mike LaValliere on a full-count, broken-bat grounder to end the inning.

For the next three innings, no Pirate reached base. Belcher retired 12 in a row before Reynolds grounded a two-out single to right field in the eighth. He was stranded on Bell’s fly ball to center. Belcher then gave up a two ninth-inning singles and a fly ball that accounted for a run, but struck out LaValliere with a runner on second base to end the game.

Dodger Notes

Jerry Reuss was given another chance to become a four-decade pitcher Saturday when he was signed to a triple-A contract by the Pirates. The former Dodger was released by Houston’s triple-A Tucson team earlier this summer, and he had recently been pitching for an amateur team in Pasadena. Reuss impressed Pirate officials by pitching in the Dodger Stadium bullpen Thursday and Saturday. “I’m excited by this, because I had not pitched for anybody in a couple of weeks and there was the possibility that my active career could be over with,” said Reuss, 41. “This is probably my last year, anyway. Not that I don’t think I can still play, but I don’t think I can continue doing all the work necessary to keep playing.” Reuss last pitched for the Dodgers in 1987.