Dodgers a Victim of Justice : Baseball: He hits homer, drives in three runs during a 4-2 victory, the Braves’ ninth in their last 10 games.

Like the picturesque swing of David Justice, it appears the Atlanta Braves simply needed a little time to get wound up.

But now, like those two balls Justice hit in the first three innings Monday night, you can actually hear them moving.

The defending National League champions continued their first serious run back toward the top of the division with a 4-2 victory over the Dodgers before 29,799 at Dodger Stadium.

As the Braves scored their ninth victory in 10 games, signs of their emergence could be found in many places besides the standings.

--Charlie Leibrandt earned his first victory over the Dodgers in his 11-year career.

--Justice got his fifth, sixth and seventh runs batted in in the last two days.

--And the Braves’ defense, one of the tightest in the league, saved the game in the seventh inning by forcing Lenny Harris into hitting his first double-play grounder of the season.

Rafael Belliard caught the hard grounder from Harris and flipped it to second baseman Mark Lemke, who then barely avoided the hard slide from Brett Butler to throw to first and beat Harris.

“Terry Pendleton had been carrying them, and now, with Justice swinging good, pretty soon they could be right back where they were last year,” the Dodgers’ Mitch Webster said.

“I just know they’re playing pretty good right now.”

The fifth-place Dodgers lost for the fifth time in seven games and fell to 5 1/2 games behind the West-leading Cincinnati Reds.

The fourth-place Braves remain 3 1/2 games behind, but looked as good as that team they followed into Los Angeles, scoring four runs against loser Ramon Martinez in four innings.

“And they aren’t just all just Dave Justice. They have got a lot of guys who can beat you in a lot of ways,” said Kal Daniels, who hit two fly-ball outs to the wall.

Justice drove in a run during the first inning with a single to left field with Ron Gant on second base. Gant had beaten out a grounder to Jose Offerman behind third base, then stole second.

Two innings later, Justice followed a leadoff walk to Otis Nixon with a drive into the right-field seats for his sixth home run, and second in two days. Both of his first two hits came with two strikes.

On May 26, Justice was batting .169 with four home runs and nine runs batted in. In two weeks since then, he is batting .371 with two home runs and 11 RBIs.

“I knew one day I was going to struggle, but that day has come and gone,” said Justice, who had been hindered by an early-season back injury. “I could feel it coming back gradually and now it’s here. My back problems are behind, and I’m ready to do my part and fit in on this team.”

Said Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox: “David is starting to hit again, and that’s a big deal. David had to get reacquainted with hitting after the injury, but he’s doing that. He’s playing hard, he’s working hard.”

The Braves made the score 4-0 during the fourth on a perfectly executed swinging bunt by Leibrandt with runners on first and second and one out.

With everyone in the stadium expecting a bunt, and Leibrandt even squaring for a bunt, he pulled back at the last second and chopped the pitch into the grass. It bounced over the head of charging third baseman Dave Anderson and into left field to score Greg Olson from second base.

Leibrandt had equally good luck with a play in the field during the fifth, when the Dodgers scored an unearned run against him but could have had more.

With Carlos Hernandez on second after a single and a wild pitch, Leibrandt deflected a line drive by Offerman, knocking it toward first base with his bare hand.

Sid Bream picked it up and touched the base for the out. One out later, Terry Pendleton’s wild throw of Brett Butler’s grounder only cost the Braves one run.

“Our infield defense is very good, extremely good,” Cox said. “We have worked very hard on it, and it shows.”

Leibrandt left the game after the inning because of a bruised left wrist. He had given up one unearned run and five hits in five innings, which later proved good enough to improve his 0-5 record in 10 career starts against the Dodgers.

Martinez, making his second start since getting a three-hit shutout in Chicago, continued to put that day far behind him by giving up four runs and six hits in five innings with two walks and three strikeouts. One walked batter scored.

In his two starts since that 1-0 victory over the Cubs, Martinez hasn’t lasted nine innings combined.

In eight innings, he has given up seven earned runs with four walks and four strikeouts. His earned-run average has climbed to 3.82.

Once the Dodgers’ most dependable pitcher, and an All-Star last season, Martinez has pitched more than seven innings only twice in 12 starts this year.

“I remember Martinez. He used to throw one of the hardest fastballs I had ever seen . . . He’s not throwing as hard as he used to,” Justice said. “But he still has good off-speed stuff and he could still be all right.”