Dodgers Hold Off Expos, 7-6 : Baseball: Neidlinger is given a 7-0 lead, but he lasts only five innings. Daniels drives in three as L.A. cuts Reds’ lead to 7 1/2 games in the West.

Two rookie starters, Mark Gardner and Jim Neidlinger, faced a Dodger Stadium matchup Friday night in which they were each trying to keep their teams in a division race.

Gardner, the Expos’ most highly touted pitching prospect, came into the game ranked fourth in the National League in earned-run average at 2.85. Neidlinger, a virtual unknown three weeks ago, brought a 1.31 ERA into his fourth career start.

But Gardner never made it through the fourth inning and Neidlinger was long gone by the time Jay Howell nailed down a 7-6 victory that went from blowout to cliffhanger before a crowd of 33,737.

Neidlinger, who gave back most of a 7-0 lead and lasted only five innings, nevertheless improved to 2-1. Gardner is 6-7.

The more important statistics for each team were in the standings. Thanks to Cincinnati’s doubleheader loss, the Dodgers moved to within 7 1/2 games of the Reds in the West.

Montreal lost 1 1/2 games to the Pirates, who won a doubleheader, and fell seven games off the lead in the National League East.

“I wish it was 3 1/2 instead of 7 1/2,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “We’ve just gotta keep believing. You never know.”

His counterpart, the Expos’ Buck Rodgers, noted: “We made it close, but we gave too much away. Bad fielding will get you every time.”

Both rookies pitched strange first innings. The first three batters against Neidlinger reached base but never got to second, thanks to a pickoff of Delino DeShields at first and an assist from Hubie Brooks in right to Alfredo Griffin at shortstop when Dave Martinez was too daring rounding the bag.

The Expos’ infield started Gardner’s problems in the first inning, making two errors that helped give the Dodgers a run after two were out.

In the second inning, Gardner got himself into trouble, giving up a two-out walk to Neidlinger, who had failed to reach base in seven previous at-bats. The Expos’ starter seemed to unravel after that. He walked Lenny Harris, gave up a run-scoring single to Kirk Gibson, allowed two more runs to score on Kal Daniels’ triple, then balked home Daniels.

Gardner gave up another run in the third to fall behind, 6-0, when Brooks led off with a double and scored on Griffin’s two-out single.

With two out in the fourth, Daniels hit his 19th home run on an 0-and-2 pitch, starting another rally that finally finished Gardner, who left with bases loaded. Dale Mohorcic got out of the inning without further trouble.

The Expos mounted their own two-out rally in the fifth. Neidlinger retired two batters after Andres Galarraga’s leadoff single, but the Expos came up with three consecutive hits and two runs and had two runners on when Tim Raines came to bat.

Raines sent a 1-and-1 pitch into the right-field pavilion to make it a 7-5 game. Neidlinger got the last out, then gave way to Tim Crews to open the sixth.

Crews found himself in a similar situation in the seventh when the Expos got two-out hits from DeShields and Martinez, putting two runners on again for Raines. This time, Raines grounded out.

After Crews’ two innings, Howell came on to start the eighth and yielded a home run to the first batter, pinch-hitter Mike Aldrete. It was Aldrete’s first home run since July, 1989.

Howell was in control from then on, earning his 11th save when Raines hit a fly-ball out to the warning track to end the game.

“We won, that’s the main thing,” Daniels said. “We’re gaining ground. . . . They made a run at us. It would’ve been hard for us to come back tomorrow if we lost this game.”

Dodger Notes

Pitcher Tim Belcher, who has struggled in recent starts, was placed on the 15-day disabled list with acute tendinitis in the right shoulder. Belcher, who fell to 9-9 in Thursday’s 4-1 loss to the Mets, will rest the shoulder and undergo physical therapy. The Dodgers will call up Jose Offerman, expected to be in uniform tonight. The shortstop was batting .329 with 60 stolen bases at triple-A Albuquerque. Mike Hartley figures to take Belcher’s spot in the rotation.

Pitcher Orel Hershiser, who had shoulder surgery April 27, threw for the first time Friday, making 60 soft overhand tosses from 45 feet and said it “felt really good.” He will continue soft-tossing as part of his rehabilitation. . . . Hershiser is in the running with teammate Kirk Gibson and Jackie Robinson in fan voting for Greatest Dodger Moment, which goes through Sunday. From a list of 20 events in the team’s 100-year history, the top three vote-getters have been Gibson’s game-winning home run in the 1988 World Series, Robinson’s breaking the color barrier in 1947 and Hershiser’s record scoreless inning streak in 1988.

The Dodgers came off the 15-game trip with 91 home runs in 117 games. Last year they hit only 89 the entire season. The Dodgers are 40-26 in games when they have hit home runs and 16-3 when they hit two or more. . . . In the 35 games since the All-Star break, the Nos. 2 through 5 hitters--Gibson, Kal Daniels, Eddie Murray and Hubie Brooks--are batting .326 with 25 home runs, 93 RBIs, a .395 on-base percentage and a .543 slugging mark.

Tonight’s game is at 7:30 to allow time for the annual Hollywood Stars game, which begins at 6. . . . The Dodgers announced that their Sept. 9 game with Cincinnati will be broadcast by Radio Korea USA on KAZN-AM (1300). It will mark the first broadcast of a major league game in the Korean language and will be heard in Los Angeles and Orange counties as well as parts of Ventura, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.