Home Still Not Sweet to Dodgers : Baseball: Young Atlanta pitcher Avery helps hand Ojeda second loss at home. L.A.’s record 0-4 at Dodger Stadium.

Home may be where the heart is, but it isn’t where the start is for the Dodgers.

Opening their first extended home stand of the season Monday after playing nine of the first 12 games on the road, the Dodgers returned to Los Angeles and ran their Dodger Stadium record to 0-4 with a 7-1 loss to Atlanta.

Before a restless crowd of 42,723, the Dodgers had only four hits against Steve Avery (2-1) and relievers Mike Stanton and Juan Berenguer, while Dodger left-hander Bob Ojeda lost his second game in as many starts here to fall to 1-2.

Last year Avery, the young Braves’ left-hander, was rushed up to the majors--one year out of high school--and roughed up for a 3-11 record.

Having turned 21 last week, Avery is showing a newfound maturity, and his talent has never been in question. In that 3-11 season of 1990, Avery was 2-0 against the Dodgers, and he held them to two hits in six innings Monday night before leaving with a blister on his pitching hand.

Avery was hurt only by a 3-and-0 pitch that Eddie Murray hit into the left field stands leading off the second inning. Avery retired the next 14 batters before Brett Butler got an infield single in the sixth.

By then the Braves had run up a 4-1 lead against Ojeda, knocking him out with two runs in the first inning and two more in the fifth. Given an infrequent start at first base, right-handed-hitting Francisco Cabrera--who came into the game 0 for 10--got run-scoring singles in each rally against Ojeda.

“Some teams you match up better than others, and I’ve done pretty good against the Dodgers,” Avery said. “Tonight, I managed to throw the ball good. I’m not backing down like I did last year.

“I had good everything tonight. My curve was falling for strikes. Everything just went well. Against Murray, 3-and-0, I just threw my rocket, but I got the ball up and he got it.”

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said, “We didn’t hit the ball, we didn’t score any runs. That was it.”

Outfielders David Justice and Ron Gant each collected two hits and two runs-batted-in for the Braves. Gant also stole two bases.

Ojeda was barely warmed up before the Braves got four first-inning singles and tworuns. He left in the fifth inning after allowing three hits and two more runs. In his two Dodger Stadium starts, Ojeda has given up eight runs and 16 hits in 8 2/3 innings.

“Bobby didn’t get settled until after the first inning,” catcher Mike Scioscia said. “But he’s coming together. He’s gonna have a good year. Give the Braves some credit--they did some good situational hitting.”

If the first and fifth innings weren’t pretty for the Dodgers, the eighth got ugly. The Braves rallied for three runs on two singles, two walks, a steal, a wild pitch and an error. Justice’s two-run single capped the inning.

Overall, the Dodgers abetted the Braves’ 12-hit attack with two errors, two wild pitches, a passed ball and a balk. The loss dropped them under .500 at 6-7.

One of the few players speaking in the quiet Dodger locker room, Scioscia said, “I expect a lot more from this club. We haven’t been doing the little things. You may have noticed when we hit we win. We also need to be more consistent on defense. That will give the pitchers more confidence.”