Dodgers Team Up on Braves : Baseball: Belcher, Candelaria give up five hits in 6-4 victory. Butler starts fast, and Samuel knocks in go-ahead runs.

The Atlanta Braves only thought it was raining again Wednesday.

One day after the scheduled opener between the Dodgers and Braves was washed out, the Dodgers created another thunderstorm with 10 hits and electric pitching from Tim Belcher in a 6-4 victory before 18,527 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

It was a successful debut for the new Dodger offense, for new bullpen member John Candelaria, for a new surprise lineup featuring Lenny Harris at third base . . . for just about everything but Darryl Strawberry’s glove.

In the third inning, Strawberry dropped the first fly ball hit to him this season. The two-base error led to two unearned runs and gave the Braves a 2-1 lead.

“Just dropped it,” Strawberry said. “Some days you are going to make mistakes. You just have to deal with them.”

Strawberry dealt with it by getting two singles and two runs batted in. Mike Scioscia had a double, two singles and an RBI.

Brett Butler added two singles, scored two runs and set the tone in the first at-bat of the game.

He worked pitcher John Smoltz to a full count, then lofted a single to left field. Smoltz nervously balked Butler to second, and Butler scored on two grounders.

“That’s me, right there,” Butler said. “Work the pitcher so my teammates can see what he’s got.”

And the real offensive hero was none of the above players, but Juan Samuel, who grounded out three times and struck out on three bad pitches with a runner on third base in the third inning.

In his other at-bat, in the fifth inning, Samuel hit a bases-loaded single up the middle to drive in two runs and give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead they never lost.

Samuel does not talk to reporters, but his teammates were delighted to speak about him.

“To strike out and then come back like that, that really stands out,” Butler said. “Sammy showed how nobody is going to get down around here.

“Everybody talks about Darryl, but you’ll see how Darryl is going to be helped out by 24 guys every night. You can’t just focus on him, and other teams are going to find that out.”

The only things louder than the Dodgers’ bats were their voices in the dugout, as this group of cool veterans spent much of their game on the steps, cheering and waiting to slap somebody’s back.

“A lot of times last year, we would get a couple of runs and then die,” Harris said. “Tonight, the guys were in it from the first inning to the ninth. Everything was rah-rah, every inning.

“And Darryl . . . usually a guy like him gets his two hits and then gets real quiet, but he just got louder. He came in and said, ‘All right now, we aren’t finished!’ And we weren’t.”

Belcher and Candelaria were the players who ultimately finished the Braves, as they combined to hold them to three singles, a double and a ninth-inning home run by David Justice that made it 6-4.

Belcher, who underwent shoulder surgery in September, earned his first victory since July 26 by holding the Braves to three runs, one unearned, and four hits in 7 1/3 innings. Candelaria gave up only the home run in 1 2/3 innings to record his first National League save since July 12, 1985.

There was a point when each pitcher could have faltered, but didn’t. Belcher’s test came in the third inning, after Strawberry’s error and singles by Smoltz and Deion Sanders. Smoltz’s hit drove in one run, and Belcher threw a wild pitch for another.

Belcher stomped around the mound. He kicked at the rubber. He glared. Then he retired the next 11 batters.

“I will always have to blow out my anger, but I would like to think that I know how to keep it from affecting me,” said Belcher, who has not always survived adversity so well.

Candelaria’s only problem was the one-out homer by Justice in the ninth inning. He was so bothered, he struck out Sid Bream looking and retired Terry Pendleton on a fly ball to end the game.

“Home runs don’t even faze me anymore,” Candelaria said, shrugging. “I know they will happen. I just keep pitching.”

Said Manager Tom Lasorda: “It was really a night when everybody contributed.”

Particularly Lasorda, who shook up the lineup before the game by inserting Harris as the starting third baseman instead of Jeff Hamilton, who was scheduled to start Tuesday.

In a development that is surprising even though Harris batted .304 last year, Harris and Hamilton will begin the season in a platoon situation, with Harris playing against right-handers and Hamilton playing against left-handers.

Most thought Hamilton had regained his old job because he played third against left-handers and right-handers in spring training, but the Dodgers wanted to reward Harris for his fine season while taking advantage of his quick bat.