Davis Double Just Enough for Dodgers : Baseball: His hit in the eighth inning knocks in the winning run in sloppy 6-5 victory over Astros.

Whatever winning style the Dodgers brought to Thursday night’s homecoming, when they scored four runs in the first inning, they forgot it for most of Friday night.

Before Orel Hershiser could get in a rhythm, his teammates had committed two errors.

But that was merely a harbinger of what would follow.

In a game riddled with errors (five) wild pitches (two), balks (two) and one passed ball, the Houston Astros and Dodgers entertained a crowd of 33,380 at Dodger Stadium with a game that was tied three times. Finally, in the eighth inning, the Dodgers remembered how they did it Thursday night. With the score tied, Mitch Webster singled and stole second and Eric Davis doubled him in for the deciding run in a 6-5 victory.

Maybe the harbinger came as early as when the lineup was posted, when Juan Samuel started in right field for the first time since 1988. Samuel said he felt positive about the move, saying he needed more at-bats and playing time. But what he needed was more practice.

After Jose Offerman bobbled a routine grounder on the game’s first batter, Craig Biggio, Samuel missed a routine fly ball entirely, scrambling for it on the ground after it fell between his arm and his glove. The crowd turned up its vocal chords, booing loudly.

Hershiser got out of the inning. But he might have wished he would have left the stadium.

Hershiser pitched six inning, giving up three runs, two earned. He had runners on base on every inning except the fifth, and it wasn’t always his doing.

Apparently the haplessness was contagious. The Dodgers made three errors, the Astros two. After the Astros scored their first run in the third inning legitimately (a sacrifice fly), Hershiser scored the Dodgers’ first run in the bottom half of the inning on a balk.

Biggio opened the third with a double to right and went to third on a sacrifice by Steve Finley.

Jeff Bagwell’s sacrifice fly scored Biggio with the game’s first run.

The Dodgers came back to tie it in the bottom of the third. After Hershiser doubled, Butler sent him to third with a single. Hershiser scored when Astro starter Butch Henry was called for a balk.

With the run in, the Dodgers had the bases loaded with one out but failed to score as Eric Karros popped up to first and Carlos Hernandez hit a grounder to short to force Davis at second.

Then came a wild fourth that ended with the score 2-2.

For the Astros, Caminiti singled and scored on a sacrifice by Henry, with an error by Lenny Harris at third helping Caminiti advance.

In the bottom of the fourth, Hershiser, attempting to bunt Offerman to second, was safe at first when catcher Scooter Tucker threw wildly to second.

With Butler at bat, Henry tried to pick off Offerman at second and threw the ball into center field, with Offerman taking third and Hershiser taking second.

Butler then hit a roller up the first base line, and first baseman Bagwell threw home trying to force Offerman, who was safe.

Sharperson singled to center, but Hershiser, trying to score from second, was thrown out at the plate.

The Astros went ahead 3-2 on a homer by Caminiti in the the sixth. The Dodgers were up 5-3 thanks to a couple of run-scoring wild pitches by Houston’s Xavier Hernandez before the Astros tied it in the seventh.