Dodgers Pay for Giving Free Pass : Baseball: L.A.’s six-game winning streak ends when Candiotti, after walking Lavalliere intentionally, walks in a run in 1-0 loss to Pirates.

The way Tom Candiotti saw it, just as he was preparing to throw his most serious punches of the evening, somebody on the Dodger bench momentarily grabbed his arms.

He said it was no excuse for what eventually happened, a bases-loaded walk to Dave Clark in the eighth inning that gave the Pittsburgh Pirates a 1-0 victory Tuesday.

But nearly as frustrating as the accidental walk was the intentional walk given to Mike Lavalliere two batters earlier, with two out and Barry Bonds on third base.

That gave him and his dancing knuckleball less room for error. Six pitches later, there was no room for anyone after he walked Jose Lind to load the bases.

Five pitches after that, with their eyes wide and arms folded, the Dodgers’ watched their six-game winning streak end with the walk to pinch-hitter Clark before 18,644 at Three Rivers Stadium.

It was Candiotti’s 21st unintentional walk in 69 1/3 innings this year. It was the first time Clark has reached base after being recalled from the minor leagues Sunday.

And it was a bitter end to a season-high winning streak that seemingly overnight has turned an injury-depleted team into one that believes it is special.

“I would have rather not walked Lavalliere intentionally,” Candiotti said. “I wanted to go at him with the knuckleball, then have a couple of other shots if that didn’t work.”

Candiotti said he understood that with Lind being a right-handed hitter, it would normally be the understandable move to walk a left-hander before him.

But he reminded listeners that he is not a normal pitcher.

And before walking LaValliere, he said he was “locked in” after striking out Steve Buechele with Bonds on third base after a single, a bunt, and a wild pitch.

“A guy like Lind, who is up there just trying to make contact, those hitters are usually tougher for me to face,” Candiotti said. “But I guess the intentional walk is their style here. And I could see if I was a normal pitcher, why let Lavalliere beat you when you can face Lind.

“Of course, I had my chance to get Lind and didn’t do it.”

When told that Candiotti would have rather not walked Lavalliere, Tom Lasorda, Dodger manager, agreed with that last statement.

“I would have rather he didn’t walk Lind,” Lasorda said, adding, “I’ve got to make those decisions. Lavalliere puts the bat on the ball. He’s a pretty good hitter.”

The night of frustration was capped when Todd Benzinger barely missed hitting Roger Mason’s fastball over the right-field wall with two out in the ninth inning. It was caught by Cecil Espy at the start of the warning track.

“No, I knew it wasn’t gone,” Benzinger said. “What we’ve been thriving on, we couldn’t repeat tonight.”

Against Randy Tomlin and Mason, they got only six hits, five of them singles, and none with a runner on base. They grounded into three double plays, including one by Candiotti with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning.

In their last victory of this streak Monday, they had seven hits in 16 at-bats (.438) with runners on base.

“It was a tough loss, but when you talk about the walk, we had to score a run anyway, and we couldn’t do it,” Brett Butler said.

It could have been Tomlin, a left-hander who keeps hitters off balance with his different speeds. He is 2-0 with an 0.67 earned-run average against the Dodgers this season, 6-3 overall.

A victory in today’s finale would still give the Dodgers a 7-2 record during the trip, making it their best trip of nine games or more since 1981, when they went 7-2 from April 13-22.

Candiotti gave up only four singles in the first six innings and kept the Pirates twisted with the knuckleball.

“Candiotti was really nasty,” Pirate Manager Jim Leyland said.

Then the Pirates got nasty when Bonds started the seventh with one of his three hits.

“He has three different speeds on his knuckleball, but he wasn’t getting the slow one over that moves the most,” Bonds said.

Even Clark, in his fourth at-bat this season, expected a curveball on 3-and-1 from his former Cleveland Indian teammate. But the knuckleball was low and wide.

“If they want someone who is going to throw a fastball in that situation, they should get somebody else in the game,” said Candiotti (5-4). “The knuckleball is my pitch.”