In Striking Back, Martinez Blanks Philadelphia, 5-0 : Baseball: He strikes out nine in five-hit shutout. Dodgers score five runs in the eighth inning.

Ramon Martinez, noticeably devoid of big strikeout games this season despite continuing his winning ways, served up K-rations again Thursday night as the Dodgers defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-0.

In a game reminiscent of his form last season when he won 20 games and averaged nearly a strikeout an inning, Martinez struck out nine and held the Phillies to five hits, closing out the game to a standing ovation from the Dodger Stadium crowd of 39,626.

Martinez (13-5) pitched his fourth shutout of the season, earned a share of the league lead in victories and lowered his earned-run average to 2.33.

The Dodgers, who scored all their runs in the eighth inning to break up a duel between Martinez and Bruce Ruffin (2-3), gained a half-game on the idle Atlanta Braves, building their lead in the National League West to five games. They lead the third-place Cincinnati Reds by 7 1/2.

The Dodgers also accomplished a three-game sweep of the Phillies, a fate they suffered in Philadelphia on their recent 2-9 trip.

On that trip, Martinez lost his last time out, 6-2, in New York, failing to record a strikeout for the only start of his career.

Against the Phillies he had a live fastball and piled up the strikeouts quickly--five in the first three innings, seven through five--on the way to tying his season high of nine. He held the Phillies to two hits through seven innings and three through eight.

“He had command of all his pitches, he was around the plate, he had good movement on the fastball,” catcher Gary Carter said. “Basically he had ‘em stifled. You felt pretty confident that we had the game won when we scored those five in the eighth.”

Martinez, who ranked second in the National League in strikeouts last season but wasn’t even in the top 10 going into Thursday’s game, said he has been feeling stronger in recent starts and felt ready for a big strikeout performance.

“I’ve been doing a lot of exercises, using a little more heavy weight,” he said. “It makes me feel stronger. Sometimes (tonight) I was kinda looking for the strikeout.

“I feel it the last couple starts, I’m gonna get a lot of strikeouts. Even in New York I didn’t get any strikeouts, but I felt my fastball was a lot better.”

Martinez was forced to concentrate on every pitch, because Ruffin nearly matched him, holding the Dodgers scoreless through seven innings.

The Phillies had a chance to break on top in the eighth when Dickie Thon led off with a double. Ruffin, allowed to bat, failed to get down a bunt and Thon was never advanced.

“If he gets the bunt down, it’s a different ballgame,” Phillie Manager Jim Fregosi said.

Instead, the Dodgers got to Ruffin in the bottom of the inning when Eddie Murray opened with a single, Darryl Strawberry doubled and Kal Daniels singled in the first run.

That brought in Roger McDowell, who was greeted by a run-scoring single from pinch-hitter Mike Scioscia, and the Phillies fell apart, committing two errors and failing to cover first on what became an infield hit. The Dodgers, who failed on two earlier scoring opportunities sent 10 men to the plate.

Daniels, who missed nine games while tending to his sick mother in Georgia, had three hits and has had five in the two games since he returned to the lineup. Strawberry, who responded to a round of boos after making an early out, had two hits, as did Murray.

“I’m happy Kal’s back,” Strawberry said. “We really haven’t had the opportunity to all be healthy and get in a groove at the same time. If all three of us swing the bat it makes it easier for us to win games.”

Martinez said: “Every time you see Darryl Strawberry at home plate you know something is gonna happen. You know he could hit a home run every time up there. And Eddie. We’re gonna score a lot more runs and it will be easier to win games.”