Dodgers Strike Back, 5-3 : Baseball: Sharperson jars the ball loose in home-plate collision to fuel rally.

It wasn’t merely a collision, it was six weeks of frustration erupting on top of home plate.

In a season of repeated blows to the Dodgers’ ego, it was, finally, a counterpunch.

Mike Sharperson hit Chicago Cub catcher Joe Girardi so hard in the fifth inning Wednesday night, Girardi’s shin guards quaked and the baseball jumped.

The only thing that made a bigger impression was Sharperson’s fist-waving, helmet-spiking run to the dugout after scoring the eventual winning run in the Dodgers’ 5-3 victory before 31,675 at Dodger Stadium.

“That’s the most excited I’ve been since my football days,” said Sharperson, a wide receiver in high school in South Carolina.

Shortly after Girardi climbed to his feet, the Dodgers had climbed out of their solo spot in last place for the first time in 23 days.

With the loss by Houston combined with the Dodgers’ fourth victory in five games, the Dodgers and Astros are tied for fifth place, six games behind the division-leading San Francisco Giants.

The collision capped a three-run rally in an inning that began with the Dodgers trailing, 3-1. The rally, started and ended by Sharperson, gave the Dodgers their sixth comeback victory and third in four days.

And for a second consecutive night, it all happened with two out.

“This is what we have to do,” Eric Davis said. “We have to play aggressive, we have to take extra bases, we have to create problems for the other team.”

The rally began when Eric Karros, benched in favor of Todd Benzinger, hit a pinch-single against Cub loser Danny Jackson.

After Brett Butler walked, Sharperson doubled through the left-center-field gap, scoring both runs. Sharperson is batting .382 against left-handed pitching.

Kal Daniels, who had driven in the Dodgers’ first run in the first inning with a single, then grounded a ball over second base. Jose Vizcaino, the former Dodger who is a part-time Cub shortstop, made the lunging grab but did not have time to throw out Daniels.

Joe Amalfitano, the Dodgers’ third base coach, realized the precariousness of Vizcaino’s position and waved Sharperson around third base and toward home. Vizcaino made a hurried throw home, and Girardi was bobbling the ball when Sharperson arrived.

“It was not an ordinary play for the shortstop, and I was gambling on a bad throw,” Amalfitano said.

Said Dodger Manger Tom Lasorda: “It was tremendous job of coaching by Joey. He gambled, he was aggressive, just like a good third base coach should be. He had a great night.”

Sharperson put his head down and slammed into Girardi, who like Sharperson weighs about 200 pounds. The ball went one way, Girardi went another way and the Dodgers had the lead.

“When Joey sent me home, I thought the ball had gotten into the outfield,” Sharperson said. “I thought I was going to score easily . . . and then right before I got to the plate I saw the catcher trying to (hold) the ball and I knew there would have to be a collision.”

Said Davis: “I was telling Sharpie to hit him, and then I was telling him to touch the base. It was good to see us force somebody into a mistake.”

The Dodgers added to that lead in the eighth inning when Benzinger followed Davis’ single and an error by left fielder Jerome Walton with a run-scoring single.

After Roger McDowell allowed two-out singles in the ninth inning on consecutive pitches to Sammy Sosa and pinch-hitter Derrick May, John Candelaria collected his first save by striking out Mark Grace on a pitch that fooled Grace so badly he threw his bat.

It added up to a surprise victory for Bob Ojeda, who gave up three runs and seven hits in five innings, and was headed for a fourth consecutive winless start.

Ojeda walked only one batter unintentionally after walking 11 unintentionally in his previous two starts, and improved to 2-3 with a 3.50 ERA.

“This is a big lift for a team, and a really big lift for Bobby O,” Sharperson said. “He hadn’t been getting much help lately. Hopefully this will lead him to even better things in his next start.”

Jackson thought he had his first victory in nearly a year, but it slipped away again. Beset with groin and abdominal injuries last season, he has not won a game in 18 starts, since last June 14 in San Diego.

Jackson gave up four runs and six hits in five innings.

The Cubs went after Ojeda quickly, scoring in the first inning after three of their first five batters collected hits. Jerome Walton singled, Grace moved him to third with a hit-and-run single, then Ryne Sandberg’s grounder made it 1-0.

Andre Dawson then singled, moving Sandberg to second, but Ojeda retired Luis Salazar on a grounder to end the inning.

The Dodgers countered with a run by the time they had sent three batters to the plate in the bottom of the first. Brett Butler started the game with a walk and stole second, then moved to third on Sharperson’s single.

Daniels, who has three runs batted in in two games after going without an RBI in his first 12 games, then singled to left.

It took the Cubs three innings to regain the lead and cause a renewal of the nightly boos.

With one out in the fourth, Salazar doubled to right. He moved to second on a grounder byGirardi.

After Vizcaino was walked intentionally, Jackson hit Ojeda’s first pitch into center field to score Salazar and move Vizcaino to second. It was Jackson’s first hit and RBI in 15 at-bats this season.

Sosa then lined a ball off the glove of leaping shortstop Jose Offerman and into left field, scoring Vizcaino and moving Jackson to third. But Ojeda induced Walton into a grounder to end the inning.