Samuel Gives Dodgers Some Room to Breathe : Baseball: Single up the middle off Dibble in ninth inning beats Reds, 3-2, and keeps lead over Braves at 1 1/2 games.

In the bottom of the ninth inning Monday night, the Dodger bench was like the Dodger bats, and the Dodger crowd, and the early-season Dodger boasts.

Silent.

They had blown a 2-1 lead in the top of the ninth, the Cincinnati Reds’ pitcher was the nearly unhittable Rob Dibble, and from water fountain to lineup card, one thought prevailed.

“We were thinking, ‘Oh no, here we go again,’ ” Mitch Webster said. “You don’t usually score off Dibble. We had already had a lead once. It was just very quiet.”

All of which means that they will not soon forget the screaming that accompanied Juan Samuel’s two-out, full-count single up the middle against Dibble that gave the Dodgers a 3-2 victory before 42,056 at Dodger Stadium.

Safe at home again, the Dodgers began this 10-game stand by breaking a three-game losing streak while maintaining a 1 1/2-game edge over the second-place Atlanta Braves.

The Dodgers have 10 victories in their past 12 home games, just five victories in their past 22 road games.

The Dodgers played as if they knew they needed not just a victory, but some dramatics.

Well, maybe not all of them felt that way.

“It seems like every game we play is like this. It’s like somebody is trying to test my heart,” Manager Tom Lasorda said after the Dodgers’ fourth consecutive one-run game, and 41st in 111 games this season.

“If I survive this season,” Lasorda added, “maybe I’ll live till I’m 105.”

The Dodgers got their last run after Roger McDowell had given up a run-scoring fly ball by Bill Doran to tie the score in the top of the ninth.

Lenny Harris began the bottom of the ninth by drawing a walk against Dibble, who had a 2.14 earned-run average and 81 strikeouts in 54 2/3 innings. Harris moved to second base on a perfect sacrifice bunt by Jose Offerman, who entered the game as a defensive replacement at shortstop in the top of the ninth.

Chris Gwynn, hitting for McDowell, struck out, but Brett Butler was walked intentionally. The runners executed a double steal just before the hard-throwing Dibble ran the count to 3-and-2 on Samuel.

Samuel, who is breaking out of a recent slump by hitting .290 in his past eight games, then grounded the ball up the middle as Harris ran home, pumping his fists into the air.

“This is the kind of win that I’m pretty sure will carry over,” Kal Daniels said. “This kind of thing could make the Reds feel even more down, and get us going.”

The Reds’ rally in the ninth inning was a disappointing turn of events for McDowell, who had relieved starting pitcher Bob Ojeda in the eighth inning with runners on first and second and one out.

Four pitches later, the Dodgers were in the dugout after Ojeda retired Billy Hatcher on a grounder to third base and Chris Sabo on a grounder to shortstop.

McDowell was trying to save a sparkling performance by Ojeda, who gave up one unearned run and three hits in 7 1/3 innings despite pitching with a sore right side. He was also trying to ensure that Eddie Murray’s 425-foot home run in the third inning would be a game-winner.

The Dodgers took the lead on Murray’s two-out homer halfway up the seats in right field against reliever Ted Power. It was his 390th career homer, moving him into a tie for 26th on the all-time list. But until Sunday, he had been in a dry spell.

It was his second home run in two days after hitting just two in the previous six weeks. After having two in 150 at-bats, he had two in six at-bats. It also was his first home run at Dodger Stadium in nearly two months, since June 16.

“I listened to a couple of things some people said,” Murray said. “Jesse Barfield told me I wasn’t cocking my legs like before. As soon as he said it, I knew what he was talking about. And my brother (Rich) told me that I had to get on the balls of my feet more.

“I started doing some of those things, and they’ve been working.”

The Dodgers didn’t have much time to worry about facing starting pitcher Randy Myers, a left-hander who had a career 1.18 ERA them and had given up just two runs in eight innings in Cincinnati last week.

Perhaps because Myers, a converted reliever, had thrown 140 pitches in that start, he left Monday’s game in the second inning with a sore left biceps after throwing 53 pitches. Myers was replaced by Power, a right-hander. This was another good break for the Dodgers, because Murray was hitting 30 points higher left-handed than right-handed.