Braves Take What Hershiser Gives Them : Dodgers: He allows only one earned run, but his two wild pitches enable Atlanta to score twice in 4-2 victory.

And the Dodgers thought that Orel Hershiser’s first pitch was going to be costly.

On a night when Hershiser was paid $250,000 for making his 31st start, he later threw two wild pitches that led to his 14th defeat.

Thanks to disappearing throws by Hershiser and Jose Offerman, the Braves’ magic number was reduced to six in their 4-2 victory over the Dodgers before 19,822 at Dodger Stadium.

Making more money with one pitch than five other Dodgers in the starting lineup have made all season, Hershiser actually threw well, allowing one earned run and four hits in seven innings.

But with a runner on third base in the third and fourth innings, he bounced balls past catcher Mike Scioscia, giving the Braves a 2-1 lead they never lost.

“Baseball has really been fun for me this year, but frustrating,” Hershiser said. “It’s fun to warm up in the bullpen and check out the other team’s starting lineup and prepare for games again. The frustrating part starts after the seventh or eighth inning when you see you’re going to lose.”

The Braves padded the lead with Terry Pendleton’s single and David Justice’s 19th home run in the ninth inning against Tim Crews.

Pendleton, who earlier doubled and singled, has six consecutive hits in his bid for a second consecutive most-valuable-player award.

If it seems as if the National League West-leading Braves have been doing this to the Dodgers all season, well, they have.

The Dodgers have won only five of 17 against the Braves. If they do not win in their season series finale tonight, it will be their worst season record against them in Los Angeles history.

“What a turnaround it’s been,” Hershiser said. “Last year we finished just one game behind these guys, and now look at it. A scenario like this is unheard of. I don’t know if it’s ever happened before.”

With his first pitch, an outside ball to Otis Nixon, Hershiser had officially made his 31st start. It earned him a rare contract bonus that will pay him $250,000 for every start after his 30th start.

“I’m excited because if I go out two more times, I will lead the team in starts . . . and I could lead the team in innings pitched,” Hershiser said. “Something like that shows me I’ve had a successful return.”

Hershiser was given a 1-0 lead one inning later on Billy Ashley’s run-scoring single.

But then the Braves scored twice on the wild pitches, and Pete Smith improved to 6-0 in nine starts by allowing one run in 7 2/3 innings.

The third inning started when Offerman committed his major league high 41st error by bobbling a grounder by Mark Lemke, allowing Lemke to reach first.

After Smith bunted him to second, Lemke took third on a grounder by Nixon. From there, he sprinted home untouched when Hershiser bounced a pitch past Scioscia.

The scoring play was repeated in the fourth inning after Pendleton doubled to right and moved to third on a grounder by Justice.

With Sid Bream batting, Hershiser bounced another ball to the backstop, scoring Pendleton.

Hershiser threw the wild pitches on a slow curveball and changeup, two new pitches he has been working on since his 1990 shoulder surgery.

“If I’m going to make it into my 40s, I need to work some new pitches into my game,” Hershiser said.