Strawberry Back, Armed for Victory : Dodgers: He gets a single and throws out runner at the plate in 6-3 win over Padres. Ojeda gets decision.

The left shoulder of Darryl Strawberry was strong enough Wednesday to hit a line drive single to right field. And strong enough to make a line drive throw from right field.

It was also strong enough to allow Strawberry to execute a celebration double-pump after that throw nailed Fred McGriff at home plate to end a seventh-inning rally and seal the Dodgers’ 6-3 victory over the San Diego Padres.

“The shoulder is like, there ,” Strawberry said after helping the Dodgers to their fifth consecutive victory, equaling a season high. “To be able to cut loose on a throw like that, to not even think about it . . . that is a great, great feeling.

“It’s all going to change for me now. Everything is going to change.”

Before 35,941 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, Strawberry returned from the 15-day disabled list as a happy man. And that made the first-place Dodgers happy, not to mention helping them increase their lead over the Cincinnati Reds to five games.

When Strawberry made that throw, starting and winning pitcher Bob Ojeda was in the clubhouse. He was so excited, he reacted a bit differently than most other people who were watching the game on television.

“I jumped up and down and cussed,” he said.

Ojeda, who gave up three bases-empty home runs, led a list of other Dodger standouts as they moved within one victory of sweeping the Padres in a three-game series here for the first time since 1982.

There was Gary Carter, who homered and drove in two runs in his sixth start in six days. And there was Juan Samuel hitting a three-run home run, his first homer in nearly three weeks.

And don’t forget Mitch Webster, the new Dodger outfielder who was acquired from Pittsburgh in a trade that sent Jose Gonzalez to the Pirates.

Webster was in the Pirate clubhouse in Chicago Wednesday morning. He was sitting on a delayed airplane most of Wednesday afternoon.

Yet he did not balk when he was inserted into left field for the Dodgers in the seventh inning Wednesday night after they ran out of outfielders.

Perhaps it should be no surprise that in the eighth, he struck out against reliever John Costello in his only at-bat.

“Looked like he was throwing 2,000 miles an hour,” Webster said, perhaps not knowing that Costello has been sent to triple A.

But the tone of this game was set by Strawberry, who was playing for the first time since June 17 after going on the disabled list because of a sore shoulder caused by a shoulder separation a month earlier.

Strawberry hit a single to right field in the first inning, putting him in the middle of a two-run uprising that eventually gave the Dodgers a 5-0 lead. Six innings later, he performed an even greater service.

With two out in the seventh and the Dodgers leading, 6-3, Benito Santiago was coming to the plate with McGriff on second base.

Earlier in the inning, Ojeda gave up a two-out homer to Jerald Clark and then a double to the left field wall by McGriff. In came Kevin Gross, who sometimes has trouble with his first few hitters while he is finding his rhythm.

Sure enough, Santiago lined a single to right field, and McGriff chugged around third. In most cases, with a three-run lead the outfielder will allow the run to score and throw to second base to help contain the rally.

“But Darryl makes that throw,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “And boy, did he make it tonight.”

Strawberry charged the ball, scooped it, and made a perfect one-bounce throw to Carter, who was blocking the plate.

McGriff was tagged out despite a collision, and Strawberry pumped his fist as he ran to the dugout where cheering teammates awaited.

“I looked up, I saw the third base coach waving the guy around, I threw the ball. . . . I didn’t even think about the shoulder,” Strawberry said. “And after the throw I felt nothing, no pain or anything.

“Before, I could not pull the trigger like that. But not now.”

Many questioned Carter’s durability at age 37. But not now. He is playing like it is 1986 again.

His first inning run-scoring single extended his hitting streak to 11 games, his longest since a career-high 13-game streak during that 1986 season with the New York Mets.

The fifth-inning home run by Carter was his fourth this season, and capped a night that gave him a .313 average in his last 20 starts. Since taking over for injured Mike Scioscia last week, Carter has helped the Dodgers to a 5-2 record.

Brett Butler also extended his hitting streak to 17 games, the longest active streak in the majors.