Dodgers and Belcher Make the Best of Good News, 4-1 : Baseball: After Braves lose in afternoon, they extend lead to 1 1/2 games with victory over Reds. L.A. starter gives up five hits in seven-plus innings.

When the final score filtered through the clubhouse Wednesday afternoon, the Dodgers openly yawned. They shrugged.

They acted as if they didn’t know the Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants were playing an afternoon game.

Oh, the Braves lost to the Giants? So?

“Why in the world would that score affect us in the least?” Kal Daniels said at the time. “We win, we stay in first. We care only about us.”

Don’t believe a word of it.

Assured of remaining in first place for at least one more day, the relaxed Dodgers played Wednesday night as if they plan on remaining there the rest of the season with a 4-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds before 41,787 at Dodger Stadium.

Playing with an aggressiveness that has been as absent as victories, the offense came up with three runs in the first two innings and Tim Belcher threw hard and smart to earn his first victory in 51 days. Jay Howell pitched a perfect ninth inning for his first save in since June 13.

Said Belcher: “I should be drinking champagne instead of Diet Coke.”

Said Howell: “What does June 13 mean to me? How should I know? Was that the date of the solar eclipse?”

The Dodgers gave themselves a bit of breathing room by increasing their lead over Atlanta to 1 1/2 games. The fifth-place Reds, after losing five of seven games to the Dodgers in the last week, fell to 8 1/2 games behind.

“Before I left the house tonight, I told my wife I was going to do something different. So I kissed the dog instead of her,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “After the game I called her and she said, ‘I guess I won’t be getting kissed tomorrow night either.’ ”

Something was certainly different about this team, particularly when they even survived a late-inning jam caused after Belcher gave up consecutive eight-inning singles to Herm Winningham and Hal Morris.

In came left-handed reliever John Candelaria and out of the game went left-handed hitting Paul O’Neill, whose 21st home run in the fourth inning had been the only run off Belcher.

Facing rookie Chris Jones, Candelaria threw one strike, then Winningham missed a hit-and-run sign, thinking instead that a bunt was on. He paused, then took off for third base.

Jones swung through the pitch and Gary Carter threw out Winningham at third base by several feet. Carter had been sitting on the bench until the sixth inning but came in as an emergency replacement for Mike Scioscia, who is still suffering from bronchitis.

“They told me, ‘Get in there,’ so I got in there,” Carter said. “Heck, I was loose. I’m always loose. I was born loose.”

A couple of pitches later, Jones struck out, giving first hitters a .195 average against Candelaria. Then Bill Doran grounded to first to end the threat.

The Dodgers provided an impressive encore in the ninth inning, when Eddie Murray made yet another great catch of a bouncing throw from an infielder, this time Lenny Harris on a leadoff grounder by Carmelo Martinez. The ball nearly struck Murray in the ear as he picked up the bad bounce.

“I’ll tell you what, I bet Eddie has saved our infield 30 errors this year doing that,” Belcher said. “I don’t know how much people talk about his defense, but in my mind, this year he has been a Gold Glover, just for those scoops.”

Belcher, improving to 8-7 with his first victory since June 23, allowed one run and five hits in seven-plus innings. He lowered his earned-run average to 2.69, which ranks among league leaders. He had a 2.41 ERA while accumulating six no-decisions in his previous eight starts.

For the fourth time in five years, he is proving to be a good second-half pitcher, giving up only two earned runs in his last 23 2/3 innings.

Belcher was quickly helped by Darryl Strawberry’s run-scoring single in the first inning, but the biggest hit in the game was struck in the third, on a play set up by the twirling arms of third base coach Joe Amalfitano.

Harris began the inning against rookie starter and loser Mo Sanford with a single to left, then moved to second on a wild pitch, and stole third. One out later, Jose Offerman walked, and with two out, Brett Butler set things in motion with a single to right.

Harris scored easily on the play, then when right fielder O’Neill bobbled the ball, Amalfitano waved home Offerman, who scored against the stunned Reds to make it 3-0.

“Great, smart play by Joey,” Lasorda said. “He doesn’t make that play, things are different.”

Said Amalfitano: “You try to surprise the other team a little, and suddenly they have to get three runs to tie it.”