Dodger Charge Slowed : Baseball: Defensive lapses key Reds’ 5-2 victory. Los Angeles falls eight games behind again.

In order to truly catch pennant fever, the Dodgers learned Tuesday, you must first catch the ball.

Like an aspiring beauty queen whose blemishes show up under pressure, the Dodgers displayed a defense against the Cincinnati Reds that made the 42,242 fans at Dodger Stadium blush.

Kal Daniels overran a fly ball. Mike Scioscia missed a pitch. Mike Sharperson missed a grounder. Three mistakes, three runs. It was all the Reds needed in a 5-2 victory that ended their losing streak at eight games while stopping the Dodgers winning streak at five.

“What good teams do is take advantage of mistakes, and tonight they did just that,” said pitcher Tim Belcher, who gave up just five hits in seven innings but fell to 9-8. “I felt I could cover up some of our miscues with a big fastball, but I didn’t have it. If we are going to get back into this race, we have to make the plays . . . and pitch well and hit well.”

Added Scioscia: “For us not to give Tim support in a big game like this is discouraging.”

This sort of defense is not completely unusual: The Dodgers have made more errors than all but four other National League teams this season. But Tuesday night, with the third-place Dodgers having a chance to move to within six games of the first-place Reds, it stuck out like a fielder with no glove.

“That’s the darned thing about it. We just snapped a five-game winning streak, but it caused a two-game swing in the standings. It was like losing three games instead of one,” said Belcher, whose team trails the Reds by eight games and second-place San Francisco by 2 1/2. “Now the Reds go home for a month while we go on the road for a month.”

His calendar is inexact, but his point his clear. After tonight’s makeup game here with San Francisco, the Dodgers embark on the season’s longest trip, covering 15 games in 15 days in four cities. The first seven games of the trip are in San Francisco and Cincinnati.

And they might be forced to do it without second baseman Juan Samuel, who left the clubhouse on crutches Tuesday after spraining his ankle while trying to beat out a bunt in the fourth inning. He will undergo X-rays today.

The Reds scored one run in the first inning after Hal Morris started the game with a triple that a hustling Daniels overran in left field.

After the Dodgers tied it, the Reds scored another run in the third inning after pitcher Jose Rijo singled and eventually moved to third on a passed ball by Scioscia.

Then, leading 3-2 in the fifth, the Reds scored on an error by second baseman Sharperson, who had just entered the game after Samuel departed.

The game essentially ended in the seventh inning in frustrating fashion, as Daniels’ three-run home run trot after he hit a 395-foot fly ball was interrupted by Eric Davis’ catch at the center-field wall.

Daniels turned his trot into a dance of anger. He leaped and shouted around first base while the Reds ran off the field with two Dodger runners stranded and a 4-2 lead intact.

“I hit it square . . . it just didn’t do out,” Daniels said. “I think it would have broke the Reds’ back.”

Instead the Reds, who shook up their clubhouse with some interesting maneuvers including a revamped lineup, are feeling lucky again.

“We got a few breaks, and we took advantage of them,” Manager Lou Piniella said.

Dodger Notes

Jose Rijo pitched 6 1/3 strong innings, giving up two runs on six hits. Randy Myers pickedup his 21st save. . . . Jim Neidlinger (pronounced NYDE-linger) arrived at Dodger StadiumTuesday acting surprisingly calm for someone who will make his first major league start today in the middle of a pennant race. “I know what’s going on,” Neidlinger, 25, said. “If youfollow baseball in the newspapers you know what is going on, but I’m not thinking about it. Ilook at it like, I’m just going out trying to win a game. Nothing more.” Neidlinger said this attitude comes from enduring the rigors of seven minor league seasons. “I’ve already been through a lot of ups and downs,” Neidlinger said. “Unfortunately, I’ve played in a lot of minor-league games, and I’ve learned a lot of things. I do what I’m capable of doing, and usually things turn out all right.” Neidlinger is known as a sinkerball pitcher with good control. He walked 34 in 119 2/3 innings in triple-A Albuquerque while going 8-5 with a 4.29ERA.

Mike Morgan’s right ankle was feeling better Tuesday, and he said he will likely make his scheduled start Saturday in San Francisco. Morgan turned the ankle while covering first base in the ninth inning of his two-hit, 4-1 victory over Cincinnati Monday. . . . The leading candidates to replace Ben Wade as Dodger scouting director are Wade’s assistant, Terry Reynolds, and scout Mel Didier.