Reds Barely Hold Off Steaming Dodgers, 4-3 : Baseball: Tempers flare after Charlton hits Strawberry with pitch, but no punches are thrown.

Bats were waved and threats were screamed Tuesday, on a night for settling scores.

The Cincinnati Reds settled the final score in their 4-3 victory over the Dodgers with a run in the seventh inning on Gary Green’s first hit of the season (a double) and Bip Roberts’ third hit of the game (a single).

Then the Dodger Stadium crowd of 34,545 got excited when Darryl Strawberry tried to settle a score with Red pitcher Norm Charlton, and Roberts tried to make good on earlier threats to get Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia.

“Anytime these teams go at it, it’s for blood,” said Eric Davis.

That was obvious in the eighth inning when Charlton threw a pitch that started the first of two near brawls, stirring up both teams’ benches and memories.

Charlton, as every Dodger remembers, admitted to hitting Scioscia intentionally late last season and was suspended for seven days. The Dodgers promised revenge and nearly got it in the eighth and ninth innings.

With one out in the eight, Charlton hit Strawberry in the right elbow with a pitch.

As Strawberry walked toward first base, he yelled at Charlton, then gestured toward him and was restrained from charging the mound by first base coach Joe Ferguson. No punches were thrown.

Strawberry was then forced out at second base on a grounder by Davis, and yelled at Charlton while walking off the field.

The inning nearly ended with poetic justice for the Dodgers when Scioscia, who calmly took his place in the batter’s box, hit a hard fly ball to center field. But it was caught by Reggie Sanders for the third out.

Said Strawberry: “The only thing I have to say is, I have no comment.”

Said Scioscia: “It is well-documented what Norm said last year. . . . I think we’re tired of it. We’ve done nothing to warrant the obvious intentions they have.

“We played clean baseball tonight, and we even played clean baseball last year when they admitting throwing at us. The ball is in their court.”

Charlton said the ball was just wild.

“Obviously, the way he reacted, he thought I hit him on purpose--no way I’d be doing that, not in a one-run ballgame, not with Davis coming up next,” Charlton said. “If he thinks I hit him on purpose, I’m sorry. If he wants to know if I hit him on purpose, all he’s got to do is ask. . . . The answer is no.”

Both benches cleared again with two out in the top of the ninth when Tim Crews threw an inside pitch to Roberts.

Roberts complained about the pitch. Scioscia told him that it wasn’t that close to him, and Roberts suddenly swung his bat menacingly at Scioscia.

“He was five feet from me and raised his bat when somebody grabbed it,” Scioscia said. “I don’t know if the league office will look into that or what.”

Strawberry, who had been removed from the game by the Dodgers because of a bruised elbow, was so enraged by Roberts that he ran off the bench in his T-shirt and needed to be restrained by Cincinnati coach Tony Perez. Again, no punches were thrown.

Tim Belcher, former Dodger pitcher, eventually restrained Roberts and even grabbed the bat from his hand.

Roberts had criticized Scioscia during spring training after Roberts had tripped over Scioscia and twisted his knee while trying to complete a double play.

At the time, Roberts said: “I’m not going to forget this day.”

Late Tuesday, Roberts said, “Don’t ask me any questions about Mike Scioscia.”

Said Scioscia: “He acted like the ball was thrown behind his head, and he had no business reacting like that. There was nothing there.”

Scioscia added: “What he did in spring training was absolute bull. (Reporters) should have known how bizarre his comments were about that.”

The Dodgers’ loss ended their four-game winning streak, while the Reds broke a four-game losing streak.

The Dodgers still could have pulled out a victory after putting runners on first and second with one out against reliever Rob Dibble in the ninth inning. But Mike Sharperson flied to right and Todd Benzinger flied to left to end the game.

The Reds had taken a 3-0 lead after five innings on six hits against losing pitcher Kevin Gross, including three hits that bounced barely inside first base.

The Dodgers had rebounded with three runs in the sixth on similarly well-placed hits.

With one out in the sixth against Chris Hammond, a left-hander who was working on a three-hit shutout at the time, Brett Butler beat out a bunt single. Butler then picked an opportune time to steal his first base of the season.

Hammond, who had walked only two batters in his first two starts and none in the first five innings Tuesday, then walked both Sharperson and Eric Karros.

At one point Hammond threw six consecutive balls before finally inducing Strawberry to hit a grounder with the bases loaded. But the grounder rolled between first and second base, too slow and well-placed for a play, scoring one run.

In came reliever Scott Bankhead, who allowed a fly ball by Davis to score another run. Juan Samuel then bounced a ball over the mound and off the glove of diving second baseman Bill Doran to score the third run.