Webster Defines a Dodger Victory in 10 Innings, 6-5 : Baseball: He hits a home run to tie the Phillies in the ninth, then singles home the winning run.

The Dodgers found some saving grace at home Tuesday night as the clutch hitting of Mitch Webster gave them a 6-5, 10-inning victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The come-from-behind victory allowed the Dodgers, who erased a 5-2 deficit, to build their lead to 3 1/2 games over Atlanta in the National League West and was accomplished against the closers in the Phillie bullpen, Mitch Williams and Roger McDowell.

After tying the score, 5-5, in the ninth inning on Webster’s leadoff home run against Williams, the Dodgers loaded the bases with one out in the 10th against McDowell on walks to Juan Samuel and Darryl Strawberry sandwiched around Eddie Murray’s single.

That brought Webster up again, and the newest Dodger came through again, lining a single to right field through a drawn-in infield to cap the comeback.

Webster was acquired July 3 by the Dodgers in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates for outfielder Jose Gonzalez.

The victory also represented a turnaround for the Dodger bullpen, as five relievers held the Phillies scoreless through the final four innings.

The victory went to Jay Howell (3-2), coming off a stretch on the disabled list with a sore right elbow. Howell, who pitched the 10th, made his first appearance since June 19.

McDowell (3-6) took the loss, but it was Williams who failed to close the door after entering in the eighth inning to protect a 5-4 lead.

He blew away the heart of the Dodger order in the eighth, but the switch-hitting Webster was inserted in the ninth to face the left-handed Williams. Webster slammed his second pitch over the center-field wall for his first homer as a Dodger, waving a fist as he rounded first as the ball disappeared over the wall.

With a day off to regroup from their 2-9 trip and a comfortable 70-degree climate to replace the 100-degree swelter of the East, the Dodgers opened a home stand by taking the approach that the worst is behind them.

“Every team goes through something like this,” said center fielder Brett Butler. “If you dwell on the negative then you fall back. In this situation it’s nice to be home, and we really didn’t lose much ground. We’re still in first place.”

Another veteran, Gary Carter, said: “During the course of a 162-game season every team in baseball goes through a bad stretch. We just have to go out and execute and put it behind us. It’s nice to be home.”

The Dodgers posted a 2-0 lead in the second inning, but even then bad luck seemed to be haunting them. With one out, Chris Gwynn walked and Lenny Harris singled. Mike Scioscia followed with a drive down the right-field line that scored both.

But Scioscia tripped rounding first and was an easy out at second.

Mike Morgan, who suffered double vision from an inner-ear problem in his last start, protected the lead into the fourth, when he may have gotten dizzy watching runners circle the bases.

The Phillies batted around that inning, getting key two-out hits from Darren Daulton, Lenny Dykstra and an especially damaging bases-loaded, full-count single by pitcher Tommy Greene, giving the Phillies a 4-2 lead.

Morgan got into another jam in the sixth when Dale Murphy worked his way around to third and, with Greene at bat again, threw a wild pitch that allowed Murphy to score and stirred further unrest among the sellout crowd of 48,925. When Greene singled, Morgan was lifted.

Greene entered the seventh with a two-hitter, but failed to get another out, leaving after Strawberry led off with his 11th homer, Gwynn singled and Harris doubled him home to cut the Phillies’ lead to 5-4.

Reliever Wally Ritchie worked out of the inning when Harris was thrown out at the plate when he got a late start from third base on Alfredo Griffin’s attempted squeeze bunt.