Dodgers Recharge Battery : Baseball: Hershiser gets first shutout in nearly four years, and Piazza hits a three-run homer during 8-0 victory over the Rockies.

Maybe now that the Dodgers have won four games in a row, Mike Piazza will start getting the attention in Los Angeles his play this season has deserved.

Buried in the box scores, Piazza’s success has been relegated to a mere mention in stories that have been focused on how the Dodgers lost a game, not how Piazza tried to win it.

All the while the rookie catcher has quietly gone about his business, trying to learn his defensive role so intensely that he hasn’t had a lot of time to concentrate on his batting.

But he hasn’t needed to.

Friday night at Dodger Stadium, Piazza hit his eighth home run of the season, a three-run shot that blew the game open for the Dodgers, who went on to beat the Colorado Rockies, 8-0.

But Piazza isn’t the only player whose merits have been somewhat overlooked this season. Orel Hershiser has had better stuff than he had Friday night, but what he had was more than good enough for him to throw his first shutout since June 25, 1989--pre-surgery Hershiser.

“I liked to get these more than once every four years,” Hershiser said. “I feel like this is an outstanding milestone. I’m over the ecstasy/goose-bump stage and it’s time to put up some numbers. My next start is San Diego, and I am already thinking about that.”

Hershiser struck out seven and gave up five hits while facing only 30 batters. He threw only 101 pitches--72 strikes--on his way to his second complete game and a 5-4 record, becoming the only starter to have a winning record on the team. It also gave the Dodgers their fourth consecutive victory.

“This is a series we have to approach with cautious confidence--we don’t want to take them for granted,” said the Dodgers’ Brett Butler, who was two for four and scored a run.

“The only way we are going to gain ground on the guys in front of us is to keep winning and have them lose.”

Piazza leads the team with a .328 batting average, 26 runs batted in and his eight home runs.

“All I try to do is be consistent,” Piazza said. “I don’t have goals or don’t get into statistics. . . . I just try to focus on my defensive game.”

But when Piazza came to bat in the eighth inning after his home run that put the Dodgers ahead, 6-0, some of the crowd of 51,818 barely seemed to notice him. By then, Tim Wallach had a two-run single to put the Dodgers ahead, 8-0, and some in the fans were playing with beach balls and heading toward the exits.

“I really don’t think about that,” Piazza said. “I hit a ball hard tonight and got lucky, because I really wasn’t swinging the bat that well. That may sound pessimistic, but maybe that is what drives me.

“I don’t want to lose sight of my priority, and that is catching and calling a good game. Orel and I got into a rhythm early on tonight, and I threw a guy out and caught a pretty good game and the defense made some good plays.”

There was no score until the fifth inning, when the Dodgers had 10-at bats and put together a six-run inning against starter David Nied. With one out, Hershiser, who had two hits, faked a bunt on a 2-and-1 count and then slashed a line drive past the charging infield into left field for a double, scoring Jody Reed.

Butler walked and Jose Offerman, who was two for three and scored two runs, followed with a single up the middle that scored Hershiser. Nied walked Mitch Webster to load the bases, but the double-play strategy backfired when Wallach hit a long fly to the warning track in left field, scoring Butler. Piazza then lined his homer barely inside the left-field foul pole.