A Good Hop for Dodgers : Baseball: Javier’s hit bounces over Pirates’ shortstop to score the winning run. Gross gets the victory, 3-2.

Everything from balls to bunts to bodies continued to bounce the right way for the Dodgers Thursday night when Stan Javier’s bad-hop single capped a charmed eighth inning that gave them a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates before 50,060 at Dodger Stadium.

In winning the first of a four-game series between the teams with baseball’s two best records, the Dodgers also won for a third consecutive night in their final at-bat. And with each victory, the streak gets wackier.

On Thursday, their hero actually talked to his winning hit.

It happened after Brett Butler, who had possibly saved the Dodgers a run in the top of the eighth inning with a diving catch in center field, led off the bottom of the inning with a single to left against John Smiley.

Juan Samuel, the team’s leading hitter, sacrificed Butler to second.

That set the stage for Javier, who doubled in the first inning and scored the Dodgers’ first run. He bounced Smiley’s first pitch to shortstop Jay Bell. The second bounce rocketed the ball over Bell’s head and into left field to score Butler.

“As soon as I hit the ball, I’m saying, ‘Get a bad hop,”’ said Javier, who has four hits in 13 at-bats since becoming part of the platoon that replaced injured Darryl Strawberry in right field. “It’s like when I hit a fly ball, I say, ‘Hit a bird!’

“I didn’t care if my grounder was hit right to the shortstop. I was just hoping for a bad hop.”

Afterward, Pirate Manager Jim Leyland’s mood took an equally bad hop.

“This is one of the prettiest worst infields in baseball,” said Leyland, who also lost star Bobby Bonilla in the sixth inning because of a strained left calf muscle. “It’s a beautiful park, but I’ve seen a lot of bad bounces over the years. I’m not making excuses, I’m not complaining . . . but while the infield grass is great, the dirt has always been difficult.”

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda saw it differently.

“That was a great bounce,” Lasorda said.

It was undisputably a great victory for the Dodgers, who caused the largest crowd in more than five years to wear themselves out waving their free beach towels.

The Dodgers won their season-high fifth consecutive game while pulling to within percentage points of the Pirates for the best record in baseball.

For the second time in three days, the Dodgers also took advantage of losses by challengers Cincinnati and Atlanta to increase their National League West lead to a season-high six games.

And look who else were heroes.

Kevin Gross, who had thrown just 15 pitches this month, picked up the win with two scoreless innings in relief of starter Ramon Martinez, whose walks had helped blow a 2-0 lead.

Mike Sharperson, giving Lenny Harris a rest at third base against the left-handed Smiley, hit his first home run since last September.

Gary Carter, starting at catcher in place of Mike Scioscia, survived a bruising home plate collision to tag out Barry Bonds as he attempted to steal a run and break the 2-2 tie in the sixth inning.

Carter not only tagged Bonds out despite being run over, he also tore Bonds’ pants when they became caught in his chest protector.

“I get up and start to run back to the dugout and I realize I’ve got his leg caught,” Carter said with a laugh. “I’m saying, ‘Hey man, get this out of there.’ And then his pants tore.”

Nobody was more exhilarated afterward than Gross, who allowed one hit and struck out two after getting into the game only because the rest of the bullpen had combined to pitch nine innings in the previous two nights.

“I got in there and all I wanted to do was air it out,” Gross said. “When you don’t pitch in a while, you’re just glad to be pitching.”

The Dodgers scored runs in the first and second innings on Eddie Murray’s run-scoring single and Mike Sharperson’s fourth career home run.

But the Pirates tied the score in the sixth with two two-out runs against a unusually wild Martinez, who failed in his second attempt to become the league’s second 11-game winner.

With two out in the sixth, Martinez fell behind Andy Van Slyke 3-and-0 before walking him. He then bell behind Bonilla 3-and-0 before also walking him. Bonds and Mitch Webster lined consecutive singles to right field.

The Pirates attempted to score more that inning when they tried a two-out double steal that sent Bonds home from third base while Webster was trying to take second.

But Alfredo Griffin took Carter’s throw and returned it to him in time to get Bonds. Martinez, remained 10-3 while his earned-run average rose to 2.78.