Ojeda Finally Gets ‘86-Style Support : Dodgers: Pitcher and fellow former Mets Strawberry and Carter help beat Reds, 7-4.

Bob Ojeda finally received some support Friday night in the Dodgers’ 7-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

But it wasn’t only with runs. It was with memories, too.

For a couple of hours it was 1986 again, his uniform belonged to the New York Mets again, and his was a team rolling toward a championship.

In the fifth inning, Darryl Strawberry was hitting a two-run homer.

In the third and fifth innings, Gary Carter was throwing out runners attempting to steal.

Then in the seventh inning, Strawberry was scoring another run with a double. And three batters later, Carter was doing the same thing.

All Ojeda needed to do to complete the flashback was pitch a solid game, which he did, giving up three runs in six innings to keep the Dodgers alone in first place for the 14th consecutive day.

“What we learned from those days on the 1986 Mets was, you need to get up for the important games, and tonight was one of those games,” Carter said. “We had lost two straight, the Atlanta Braves had won a couple . . . you get more pumped up for games like this, because you need to win them.”

Strawberry says the three former Mets have brought another sort of attitude to the Dodger clubhouse.

“What we bring is, no doubt ,” Strawberry said. “We don’t doubt ourselves. No matter what we go through, no matter how tough it is--and it has been tough for some of us--we have learned not to doubt.”

Before 44,005, the Dodgers took a big step toward eliminating the doubt that they could beat starter Tom Browning or reliever Randy Myers.

Browning, who entered with 12 victories in 18 career decisions against them including a victory last Sunday, gave up four runs in six innings and walked three.

Myers, against whom the Dodgers previously had scored only one run in 33 2/3 innings, gave up three runs in the seventh inning that sealed the Dodgers’ victory.

The Dodgers have outscored the defending world champions, 28-18, while winning three of their five games this season.

“Honestly, I think this team is better than the 1986 Mets,” Strawberry said. “Just look, we have everything that team had. We just haven’t started putting it together yet.”

The Dodgers have played far more inconsistently than that great club, particularly when Ojeda has been pitching. In his four losses, during which he has lasted a total of 23 innings, the Dodgers have scored a total of three runs.

But Friday was different. Especially after Browning, who had walked only 10 in his previous 71 2/3 innings this season, issued a bases-loaded walk to Brett Butler that gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the second inning.

But the Reds tied the score on a home run by Glenn Braggs in the fourth inning and a couple of hits and a sacrifice fly by Mariano Duncan in the fifth.

That left it up to Strawberry, who was hitless in his previous 10 at-bats before he came to the plate in the fifth with Juan Samuel on first base. Samuel had beat out a chopper over the mound.

Four pitches later, Strawberry hit his seventh home run, and second at Dodger Stadium, a drive deep into the right-center field seats.

It was the fourth time Strawberry has either tied a score or given the Dodgers a lead with a homer. And it was his fourth against a left-hander.

His homer gave the Dodgers a 4-2 lead. The Reds scored on Paul O’Neill’s single in the sixth inning to make it 4-3, but the Dodgers scored three times in the seventh.

The highlights of that inning were Strawberry’s RBI double down the left-field line and Carter’s RBI double into the left-center field gap.

Carter had already made his mark, when he ended two Red rallies by throwing out runners attempting to steal second.

In the third inning he caught Duncan. In the fifth inning, after Duncan’s sacrifice fly had made the score 2-2, he threw out Chris Sabo to end the inning. In the sixth inning, Eric Davis ended Carter’s streak by stealing second.