Dodgers Win but Show a Little Strain : Baseball: Martinez injures hip and won’t be able to pitch in All-Star game. He gets 12th victory against Braves, 5-3.

Fred Claire, Dodger executive vice president, has been pleased because his club hasn’t sustained any serious injuries during the first half of the season.

“We’ve been fortunate in that although we’ve had injuries we haven’t had injuries that have simply floored us,” Claire said.

But Claire and the Dodgers got a scare when pitcher Ramon Martinez strained a muscle between his groin and his hip and was forced to leave with two out in the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ 5-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves Sunday at Dodger Stadium.

Martinez suffered the injury when he reacted to a grounder to shortstop by Deion Sanders. He was examined by assistant trainer Charlie Strasser, but remained in the game. However, the pain increased and Martinez left the game after throwing to three more batters.

“Every time when I landed, I felt more pain,” Martinez said. “The first time when Charlie came out it wasn’t bothering me, but when I threw a couple of more pitches it was hurting.”

Frank Jobe, Dodger team physician, examined Martinez and advised him not to pitch in Tuesday night’s All-Star game at Toronto. However, Martinez still plans to attend the All-Star game.

“I’d like to go and pitch, but Dr. Jobe recommended that I don’t pitch,” Martinez said.

Although Jobe said he didn’t believe the injury was serious, he will re-examine Martinez after the three-day All-Star break.

“I don’t think it’s serious enough to require an operation or a really long term thing,” Jobe said. “But if he doesn’t take care of it, it will probably cause him some trouble.

“He pulled a muscle outside his groin and I just didn’t think he ought to pitch in the All-Star game. We’ll evaluate him after that. It may affect the first game or so in the second half, but I don’t know that yet.”

Martinez (12-3), who has the most victories by a Dodger pitcher at the All-Star break since Orel Hershiser’s 13 in 1988, hopes that the injury won’t cause him to miss a start.

“I don’t think I’ll have to miss a start because I’ll have three days off,” Martinez said. “I hope it’s not going to affect my next start. I’m probably going to be OK.”

Mike Morgan, who started Thursday in San Diego, pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to pick up his first National League save. It was his first save since May 22, 1988, when he saved a game against Seattle while with the Baltimore Orioles.

Dodger center fielder Brett Butler, who extended his hitting streak to a personal high 21 games by getting three hits along with a run batted in, has been one of the catalysts in the first half of the season as the Dodgers have built a five-game lead over the Cincinnati Reds in the National League West.

The Dodgers (49-31) are off to their best start since 1977, when they compiled a 53-26 record at the All-Star break.

“We’re five games up,” Butler said, “but we’re going to improve. Our pitching has kept us in it and hopefully the hitting will catch up. We’ve got a better offensive club than what we’ve shown.

“I don’t think the character of this club is going to allow us to be complacent because five games is nothing. We know that the Cincinnati Reds can be real, real tough.”

After being ejected in the second inning after he argued a foul-tip third strike on Eddie Murray, Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda was spared the agony of watching the rest of the game.

“I lay on the table in Dr. Jobe’s office and took a nap,” Lasorda said. “I told someone to wake me when the game was over and I found out the result and I was happy.”

Lasorda might not have as happy if he had to watch the final seven innings.

Try as they might, the Dodgers, who committed three errors, couldn’t throw the game away and won their second game in a row.

Leading, 3-1, the Dodgers gave away a run in the seventh with two errors on the same play, which allowed Brave shortstop Jeff Blauser to score from first. Blauser advanced to third when Murray mishandled a grounder by Atlanta catcher Greg Olson, who was shaken up while sliding into first. Pitcher Tim Crews apparently forgot that play hadn’t been halted and held onto the ball, allowing Blauser to score.

But the Dodgers took advantage of the Braves’ equally inept defense to put the game away in the seventh. With runners on third and second, pitcher Kent Mercker threw the ball away after fielding Kal Daniels’ grounder, scoring Mike Sharperson and Darryl Strawberry.

Dodger Attendance

Sunday: 41,965

1991 (41 dates): 1,719,690

1990 (41 dates): 1,486,426

Increase: 233,264

1991 average: 41,944