Butler Helps Dodgers Finish Sweep of Reds

Brett Butler couldn’t stand it Tuesday when Manager Tom Lasorda made him take the night off. He was so fidgety that by the fourth inning he was pitching in the bullpen. He said his teammates were glad he left the dugout because he was driving them crazy.

“I just can’t sit,” Butler said. “When the day comes and I’m not starting, I’ll probably have to retire, or it will drive me crazy.”

But Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, when Butler returned to the lineup, you would have thought he’d been resting in Hawaii for a week. Together with Tom Candiotti, who hadn’t pitched in a week, the only players Butler crazed were the Cincinnati Reds, whom the Dodgers defeated, 5-2, to sweep a three-game series.

“I had more life in my legs and was relaxed physically as well as mentally,” said Butler, who had three hits in five at-bats, including a run-scoring double, and scored a run. “I guess that’s why (Lasorda) has been around so long.”

Meanwhile, Candiotti not only had his knuckleball working, but also his bat. With the score tied in the sixth inning, 2-2, Candiotti hit a two-out bouncer up the middle to score Cory Snyder and keep a rally going that produced a three-run inning and helped Candiotti pick up his second win of the season.

“Coming from the American League, I really hadn’t swung a bat for 17 years until I got here last season,” said Candiotti (2-4). “I spent a lot of time last season working mainly on my bunting, but (hitting coach) Ben Hines has worked with all of the pitchers on our hitting and I think it is paying off.

“I don’t think I’ll make a living with it, but getting on base and with an RBI is great.”

Candiotti held the Reds to five hits and two runs, one earned, before being relieved in the eighth inning by Pedro Martinez. With two outs and runners on first and second, Jim Gott relieved Martinez and got the last four outs to earn his fifth save.

“When I’m going for strikes and moving my knuckleball through the zone like tonight, it’s tough on a team,” Candiotti said.

After being swept by the Dodgers, the Reds are probably more dazed than crazed. Entering the series, they had put together a seven-game winning streak to move to within 4 1/2 games of the first-place San Francisco Giants. But they left Los Angeles 7 1/2 games behind and in fourth place.

The Dodgers (17-22) are still nine games behind the Giants and in fifth place.

“We may not have gained on San Francisco, but every time we win, we are gaining on somebody,” Lasorda said.

Butler, who last season played in a team-high 157 games, had not missed a game all season until Tuesday night. He has missed only seven games in three seasons with the Dodgers.

“You have to force him to sit out,” Lasorda said. “He wasn’t in a slump, but he needed a rest.”

As for Candiotti, he wasn’t about to leave this game early. And Lasorda, who said Candiotti was pitching too well and is a good hitter, left him in when he came to bat in the sixth inning with two outs and runners on first and third base.

After Mike Piazza singled, Snyder forced Piazza at second. Eric Karros followed with a single to right field that put Snyder on third base. Then, after Jody Reed struck out, Candiotti singled up the middle before Butler followed with a double into the right-field corner, scoring Karros.

Jose Offerman kept the rally alive with a single to right field that scored Candiotti.

The game also included some impressive defensive plays by Tim Wallach and a diving catch in center field by Butler, all of which gained loud applause from the crowd of 30,152.

“Here we haven’t been playing well and the Reds were red hot and the next thing you know, we’ve won three in a row and hopefully we can keep going,” Candiotti said.