Texas League Is Tough for Hershiser in Loss

The fourth outing of Orel Hershiser’s rehabilitation assignment in the minor leagues resulted in the Dodgers’ right-hander getting a Texas League loss for the first time in 10 years.

On a muggy 90-degree night in South Texas, Hershiser started Friday for the San Antonio Missions, the Dodgers’ double-A affiliate, and struggled to find his rhythm against Shreveport.

In his shakiest performance of his rehabilitation, Hershiser allowed 11 hits and two earned runs and took the loss in a game won by Shreveport, 3-0. He struck out five and walked one.

Hershiser threw nine more pitches (92) and went an inning longer (seven) than he did last Saturday in Bakersfield. But he allowed more hits (11) Friday than he had in his previous three rehabilitation outings combined.

Four went for extra bases, including a two-run homer by Royce Clayton in the fifth inning--the first home run that the 21-year-old shortstop from Inglewood had hit in double-A.

And Hershiser’s line would have been worse had not Shreveport runners been out at the plate on throws from the outfield in the fourth and sixth innings.

Asked how he was feeling after the game, Hershiser said, “Kind of brutal.”

But he said his problems were not a result of pain in his right shoulder, which required major reconstructive surgery last year.

“I gave up runs, but my main concern is I didn’t feel good mechanically,” Hershiser said. “This is probably the worst mechanics I’ve had throughout this whole rehabilitation stretch.”

Hershiser declined to say what his next move will be.

“I’ll see how I wake up in the morning and make an announcement on Monday,” he said.

The game was a flashback to Texas League days when Hershiser was a reliever and spot starter known--because of his erratic efforts--as “Extra Innings Orel.”

He allowed base runners in every inning but managed to hold Shreveport, the San Francisco Giants’ double-A farm team, scoreless until Clayton connected in the fifth.

Hershiser shrugged off the game as one in which he couldn’t settle into a groove and, as a result, couldn’t keep the ball down. No pain, he said. No cause for alarm, he said.

“Just a bad day,” he said. “Those things happen in baseball.”