Hershiser Leaves, but Wins : Dodgers: He goes 8 1/3, his longest outing since surgery, and beats Braves with help from bullpen and Daniels’ homer.

It was a 3-2 Dodger victory over the Atlanta Braves, which is all most people will remember.

But to those fans who stood and booed Tom Lasorda Tuesday at Dodger Stadium, it was a heart warmer that came far too close to being a heartbreaker.

Two outs before throwing his first complete game in 1,026 days, with a 3-2 lead and only 89 pitches thrown, Orel Hershiser was removed from a game with the Atlanta Braves.

With one out in the ninth, Lasorda wanted left-hander John Candelaria to face left-handed-hitting David Justice, who had two hits in four previous career at-bats against Candelaria.

Then disaster nearly happened. Justice lined a double into the right-field corner. Those who weren’t already booing joined in.

But credit Roger McDowell with the save of the season, as he retired Sid Bream on a grounder and Damon Berryhill on a foul popup to break the Braves’ four-game win streak before 33,387.

“I thought Justice has a rough time hitting Candelaria, but he got a double and changed thewhole plan around,” Lasorda said afterward. “It doesn’t always work the way you want. It’s a tough decision because the guy was pitching a heckuva game.

“But you got to make the moves you’ve got to make. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”

While Kal Daniels gave the Dodgers the victory with his second home run of the season in the eighth inning, the night belonged to Hershiser, who turned in his finest performance since shoulder surgery two years ago.

Hershiser gave up two runs and four hits in 8 1/3 innings, his longest post-surgery stint.

After the first two Atlanta batters of the game reached base with hits--both eventually scored--Hershiser retired 25 of his remaining 28 batters.

“I think it was the right call . . . it was uncharted water for me,” Hershiser said of being removed from the game. “You’ve got two left-handers in a row coming up and you’ve got Candelaria warm, and Justice is their hottest hitter right now.”

The Braves hit 13 grounders among those 25 outs and hit only six balls out of the infield after the first two batters.

“I was throwing just as well in the ninth as I was in the first,” Hershiser said. “The velocity was still fine.”

Said Justice: “The key to Hershiser tonight was, he had us swinging at changeups out of the strike zone. I know I did it twice.”

After Candelaria gave up Justice’s double, he was replaced by McDowell, to face pinch-hitter Brian Hunter. But Hunter had not been officially announced by home plate umpire Mike Winters, so the Braves’ left-handed-hitting Bream quickly took Hunter’s place at the plate.

“When a guy walks into the batter’s box, he’s in the game, even though they don’t signal it,” Lasorda said. “There’s a discrepancy there. We have to have a set rule.”

Hershiser, who improved to 6-3 with his fourth consecutive victory, was in trouble only in the sixth inning, when he gave up a leadoff single by Terry Pendleton, then threw a wild pitch to move him to second.

But Ron Gant lined to Lenny Harris, into a double play, and Hershiser hopped with joy.

In the first two innings, the teams stumbled their way to a 2-2 tie with one error, one wild pitch, one passed ball and one run-scoring grounder that knocked Brave shortstop Rafael Belliard on his face.

The only person who made sense was Brett Butler, who scored the Dodgers’ first run and then drove in the second with two hustling infield singles.

The Braves struck first against Hershiser, who had beaten them 18 times in his career, his most victories against any National League team.

Deion Sanders started the game by lining a single to left, then Pendleton lined a shot into the left-center field gap for a double, moving Sanders to third.

Gant hit a slow roller to first baseman Eric Karros to score Sanders and move Pendleton to third. Then a pitch from Hershiser glanced off Mike Scioscia’s glove and rolled to the backstop, allowing Pendleton to score on Scioscia’s fifth passed ball of the season.

It was only Scioscia’s second passed ball while catching a pitcher other than Tom Candiotti.

The Dodgers came back in the bottom of the first against Mike Bielecki, whose only victory this year was a two-hitter against the Dodgers.

Butler led off with a grounder between first and second base, beating it out for a single. He has hit in eight consecutive starts.

Harris then lined a single to center, moving Butler to second. After Daniels struck out, Karros hit a grounder back to Bielecki, who threw to second to force Harris.

With runners on first and third, Bielecki then threw a ball in the dirt and underneath the glove of catcher Berryhill. It was his third wild pitch of the season, and just wild enough to score Butler from third with the Dodgers’ first run.