His Hitting Has Never Been More Timely : Dodgers: Sharperson’s ground-ball single scored the winning run Friday night against the Braves.

The ball took one big hop and seemed to hang for an instant above the glove of Atlanta Brave second baseman Jeff Treadway.

And all Dodger Mike Sharperson could do was watch.

And hope.

Hope that one of the most frustrating nights in Dodger history was finally over.

Hope that his own personal night of desperation was over.

Hope that Juan Samuel was not left on base, as were a record 25 Dodgers.

Here it was, 12:41 a.m. Saturday at Dodger Stadium, 5 hours and 3 minutes after the first pitch, and the Dodgers and Braves were still even.

After going hitless in seven at-bats, Sharperson had come up in the 12th inning of a 4-4 tie with the bases loaded and hit a high bouncer to Treadway.

“I kept saying, ‘Get over his head, Get over his head!’ ” Sharperson recalled. “I needed a hit. I was 0 for five hours.”

Sharperson got his wish and a game-winning RBI as the ball cleared Treadway’s glove and came to rest on the outfield grass as Samuel scored.

“It all became worthwhile,” Sharperson said. “I can live with one for eight.”

In the Dodger clubhouse moments later, Manager Tom Lasorda could only shake his head.

He had seen his team leave a club-record 25 men on base, a major league record for a 12-inning game. He had used 21 players, two shy of the team record. He had seen his team issued 15 walks, two short of another team mark.

“This is what makes managers’ hair gray,” Lasorda said. “This is what gives managers ulcers. This is what makes managers like Whitey (Herzog) quit.

“I had absolutely no one left. The game lasted so long, I thought I was going to be allowed to bring (starter Terry) Wells back.”

Ray Searage (1-0), the sixth Dodger pitcher, got the victory. Rick Luecken (1-3), the sixth Atlanta pitcher, took the loss.

In all, 41 players saw action and 33 were left on base. There were 22 walks, 20 hits and four errors in a game that threatened at one point to be the longest in Dodger Stadium history.

That remains a 1973 game against the Mets that lasted 39 minutes longer than Friday night’s affair. New York won, 7-3, in 19 innings.

Friday night, the Dodgers left the bases loaded five times before Sharperson unloaded.

The game had almost ended two innings earlier on what would have been a bizarre play.

With two runners on, Atlanta’s Kent Mercker was intentionally walking Samuel.

But he got careless and threw a pitch much higher than planned. Catcher Jimmy Kremers had to tip the ball up in the air to stop it from sailing over his head.

Lasorda said the fact that the 6-foot-3 Kremers was playing instead of starter Greg Olson, who is three inches shorter, cost the Dodgers a quicker victory.

“Those inches cost us,” Lasorda said.