Murray Boosts Dodgers : Baseball: His home run in the eighth helps beat Cubs, 3-2, and cut Braves’ lead to one game.

Eddie Murray has refused to confirm or deny that he has played while suffering from a broken rib during a struggling second half.

He has said only that his ribs are “messed up,” contributing to his second-half batting average of .225.

Saturday night, bidding adieu to August with only 33 games left to play, Murray provided a measure of reassurance for the Dodgers.

He jumped on a curveball from Paul Assenmacher and hit an eighth-inning home run into the left-field pavilion to break a 2-2 tie and give the Dodgers a 3-2 victory, reducing the Atlanta Braves’ lead in the National League West to one game.

A Dodger Stadium crowd of 46,943 saw Jay Howell preserve the victory with his 15th save in a harrowing ninth inning.

Two-out singles by Luis Salazar and Rick Wilkins forced Howell to face Ryne Sandberg with the tying run at third. The count went full before Howell struck out Sandberg, tightening the race.

Roger McDowell was credited with the victory as he shut out Chicago in the seventh and eighth innings after Kevin Gross, replacing Orel Hershiser, pitched six solid innings in his first start since May 25.

Gross gave up five hits and two runs, both scoring in the third, when the Cubs loaded the bases with no outs on two singles and a walk.

A pair of sacrifice flies gave Rick Sutcliffe a 2-0 lead that he maintained until the fifth, when his control wavered. He had two out and two strikes on Gross, only to end up walking the opposing pitcher. He also walked Brett Butler, and both Lenny Harris and Kal Daniels delivered run-scoring singles to tie the score.

With Manager Tom Lasorda back in the third base coach’s box, the Dodgers got nine hits--in addition to six walks--but stranded nine runners.

In a season of inconsistent offense, they have played 72 games decided by two runs or fewer and are 22-26 in games decided by one.

Murray, batting .247 overall, has a modest hitting streak of five games in which he is seven for 16.

Of the curveball that hung as Murray led off the eighth, Assenmacher said the obvious: “It wasn’t one of my best, and he sure got all of it.”

Murray thought it was a slider, but he wasn’t boasting about what he did with it.

“One hit doesn’t prove a thing,” he said of his second-half struggle.

The ribs?

“They’ve been feeling better the last couple weeks, but you don’t suddenly correct the bad habits,” he said.

“This was a big win and that’s the only thing that matters now.”

The Cubs had taken their 2-0 lead in the third, when they loaded the bases with no outs. Wilkins opened the inning with a single. Sutcliffe then looped a hit-and-run single to left, but Wilkins held at second. An ensuing walk to Chico Walker put Wilkins and Sutcliffe in position to score on sacrifice flies by Shawon Dunston and Mark Grace.

Gross, who was 5-5 with three saves and a 2.84 earned-run average in 30 appearances since his last start, gave up a two-out single in both the fourth and fifth innings but was even, 2-2, when he yielded to a pinch-hitter in the sixth.

Mike Scioscia walked with one out in that inning and was forced at second by Juan Samuel. Mike Sharperson walked, but Chuck McElroy struck out Mitch Webster, who was batting for Gross.

McDowell came on to pitch the seventh and got into immediate trouble on a bad-hop single by Salazar, opening the inning. A sacrifice moved Salazar to second, but McDowell retired Sandberg, batting for McElroy, on a fly to right and Walker on a grounder to second.