The Lead Stays the Same but Season Gets Shorter : Dodgers: Ojeda goes a strong 7 1/3, McDowell provides relief and even plays left in 3-1 victory over Padres.

What began as a nice, old-fashioned championship race became something different Tuesday when the Dodgers and Atlanta Braves began hitting each other with their biggest and wildest swings.

It has become a long-distance street fight, a four-game bout in which the loser may not be the one who plays worse but tires first.

Tuesday, the Dodgers learned in the first inning that David Justice’s ninth-inning home run had given the Atlanta Braves, who had trailed 6-0, a 7-6 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

But even against San Diego Padre nemesis Andy Benes, the Dodgers did not flinch. They used early home runs from Darryl Strawberry and Mike Scioscia and splendid pitching from Bob Ojeda to earn a 3-1 victory before 42,827 at Dodger Stadium.

For the third consecutive day, the Dodgers followed an Atlanta victory with one of their own, enabling them to remain in first place by one game with four games remaining.

The Dodgers have won 23 of their past 31 games. The Braves have won 18 of 25.

“This is mentally trying,” Orel Hershiser said. “When the winner of this division finally gets to the playoffs, I don’t think they will experience a change in pulse.”

Even though the division race will be decided this weekend in Candlestick Park and Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the most important games for both teams could be tonight.

The Dodgers desperately want to forge a two-game lead before the weekend, so they will need only one victory against the San Francisco Giants to clinch a tie. They will match Tim Belcher against the Padres’ Greg Harris.

The Braves believe if they can return to Atlanta trailing by only one game, they can win the division outright on Sunday because their final three games are against the last-place Houston Astros. They will match ace Tom Glavine against the Reds’ Scott Scudder.

“If they win, we have to win. And if they lose, we have to win,” said Ojeda, who recorded the 1,000th strikeout of his career when he fanned Darrin Jackson in the third inning. He gave up five singles in 7 1/3 innings and struck out eight.

“We have no more gimmes, no more layups, no more breathing room,” Ojeda said.

If nothing else, the Dodgers have the nerve to go the distance. They showed this in the ninth inning Tuesday, when Roger McDowell recorded a save not only for pitching, but for playing left field.

McDowell relieved Ojeda in the eighth after Paul Faries and Jim Vatcher had reached base on a single and a walk. After giving up a double to left-center by Darrin Jackson, McDowell retired pinch-hitter Oscar Azocar on a fly ball to left field.

Benito Santiago then ended the inning with a grounder, although McDowell had forgotten that there were two out and threw home, where the alert Scioscia made the catch and threw to first.

“It was appropriate that I did it on Mickey Hatcher night,” McDowell said, referring to a pregame ceremony.

This set up an even odder ninth inning. With left-hander Fred McGriff due up first, left-hander John Candelaria was brought in to pitch. Manager Tom Lasorda wanted McDowell to return to the game for the next two right- handed hitters.

So he kept him in the game, moving him to left field while Candelaria struck out McGriff on three pitches.

“I haven’t seen that since Little League,” McGriff said.

Said McDowell: “I’ve done it before with the New York Mets. But on the only fly ball hit to me, Lenny Dykstra came all the way over to catch it and stepped on my toes.”

Once McGriff was out, so was Candelaria, and McDowell trotted back in from left field to retire Tim Teufel and pinch-hitter Bip Roberts for his 10th save.

Although the Dodgers cheered in their clubhouse when the Reds took a 6-0 lead in the first inning against the Braves, it took them only three innings to get over their shock at the Braves’ comeback.

“When I saw the Braves score I just told Lenny (Harris), ‘Man, we’re just going to have to win this thing ourselves,’ ” Strawberry said.

In the third inning against Benes, who has a 1.66 earned-run average against the Dodgers and was trying for his 11th consecutive victory, Brett Butler led off with a double into right-center.

Harris then lined a singled to right to drive him in but was thrown out attempting to take second on the play. Two pitches later, Strawberry hit his 27th homer, his second in five at-bats after hitting only three in 34 games.

Scioscia hit his second homer in five games in the next inning, and that was more than enough for Ojeda, who was making his second start in 14 days and probably his last of the season.

Ojeda improved to 12-9 with a 26-13 career record in September and October. In 11 starts since Aug. 7, he is 4-1 with a 2.29 ERA.

But he still faces the prospect of missing his last start this weekend because Orel Hershiser has pitched so well, and he could move to the bullpen during the postseason because the Dodgers will need a left-hander there.

“Whatever happens to me, what is happening is just awesome,” Ojeda said. “You know how jazzed up a lot of guys get when they are just playing ball in the schoolyard? Just imagine what we feel like right now.”