NL West Race Hits Ground Zero : Baseball: Only three of 11 Padre batters in eighth get ball out of infield, but they score six runs. Dodgers lose, 9-4, drop into a tie for first.

The Dodgers have blinked first.

With three games remaining, their National League West race with the Atlanta Braves is as knotted as their stomachs because of an eighth inning Wednesday night that could keep the Dodgers awake until February.

Even though only three balls left the infield, the San Diego Padres sent 11 batters to the plate in the eighth and scored six runs with five infield hits, leading to a 9-4 victory before 48,358 at Dodger Stadium.

“It was so bad, after a while, you wanted to laugh,” Mitch Webster said. “But nobody was laughing.”

After matching the Braves, victory for victory, during the last three days, the Dodgers fell into a first-place tie only hours after the Braves completed a three-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds.

After 159 games, the race will be decided in one weekend, when the Dodgers play the San Francisco Giants in Candlestick Park and the Braves are host to the Houston Astros.

If the teams remain tied after Sunday, there will be a one-game playoff Monday at Dodger Stadium at 7:35 p.m.

“Right now, I would say the Braves have the advantage because they are playing the weaker club--that’s pretty simple to figure out, isn’t it?” Tim Crews said. “They are also at home, while we’re on the road. That helps even more.”

Said Lenny Harris: “You always dream about being in a pennant race and winning a pennant race. . . . You do not dream about the whole thing being decided with three games to play. The Giants are going to be waiting for us.”

That is not what happened to the Braves in Cincinnati this weekend, according to Harris, a former Red.

“I think the Reds just kind of laid down for the Braves,” Harris said. “I can never remember seeing something like that happen at Riverfront Stadium. They are a better team than that. . . . Hey, we all know that the only people who want us to win is us.”

Many Dodgers shared that anger while watching the Braves’ victory on television late Wednesday afternoon.

“There ought to be a law against that. They aren’t even trying,” one Dodger veteran said.

The hardest part for the Dodgers, if they eventually fall out of first place after leading the division for 133 days, will be the memory of an inning that happens virtually only in leagues where kids hit off a tee.

The eighth-inning accident report: A bunt single over the pitcher’s head, a bunt single that died on the third-base line, a single off the pitcher’s glove, a single in front of the catcher, a single to the shortstop, an error by first baseman Eddie Murray and a run-scoring ground ball.

The five infield hits broke a 3-3 tie and overcame Darryl Strawberry’s early two-run home run and run-scoring single. It also gave the Padres more runs in one inning than the Dodgers had allowed in their previous three games.

“I have never seen anything like it, ever,” Manager Tom Lasorda said. “In a game of this magnitude, to see balls like that. . . . I just don’t understand it.”

Roger McDowell, one of the Dodger relievers who was in the middle of the mess, shook his head.

“Unfortunately, something like this didn’t happen like, 10 years ago,” he said. “That way, it would not have happened now.”

Worse for the Dodgers, it was the first time the Padres have won in L.A. since April 14.

“I really wanted to be part of knocking them out of it,” Padre reliever Larry Andersen said after finishing for winner Greg Harris.

Before the eighth inning, the Dodgers had taken leads of 1-0 and 3-2, thanks to Strawberry’s heroics, which included his third homer in three days.

But the Padres tied it in the sixth with three singles against Dodger starter Tim Belcher. The rally was capped by Fred McGriff’s run-scoring single and fittingly included a ground single to shortstop.

“The way we have been playing lately, usually when we get a lead like that, we hold it,” Strawberry said. “Tonight was really strange.”

With reliever Kevin Gross on the mound after Belcher was removed for a hitter, pinch-hitter Oscar Azocar led off the eighth with a bunt single that bounced over Gross’ head.

Bip Roberts then beat out a grounder to shortstop Harris. Jack Howell laid down a bunt that rolled inches foul, then curved and stopped on the third base line, loading the bases.

Darrin Jackson singled to left to score the first run and John Candelaria relieved Gross, who fell to 10-11 with the 101st loss of his career.

“Yeah, I think I’ve seen innings like that before, about 20 or 30 times,” Gross said. “That’s why I’ve got more than 100 losses.”

Candelaria watched another run score when Murray threw McGriff’s grounder high to catcher Mike Scioscia.

McDowell relieved Candelaria, but for the Dodgers it only got worse. Benito Santiago singled to left to score the third run. After a foul-out by Tim Teufel, Thomas Howard’s grounder scored the fourth run.

Craig Shipley’s grounder off McDowell’s glove scored the fifth run. Azocar’s high bouncer in front of Scioscia scored the sixth run.

In one inning, Azocar raised his batting average 32 points on two hits that traveled a total of 50 feet.

“We were just hoping that somebody would hit the ball to somebody ,” said Alfredo Griffin, watching from the bench with a knee injury that may prevent him from playing this weekend.

BRAVES WIN: Tom Glavine’s 20th victory, 6-3 over the Reds, brings a celebration and a weekend opportunity to win the division title. C6.

IT’S A WRAP: The Toronto Blue Jays clinch the American League East championship with a 6-5 victory over the Angels. C7