Dodgers Show Cardinals They Can Even Win Ugly

The Dodgers, who have played a slew of crisp and clean games recently, got involved in something a lot less presentable Tuesday night and won anyway.

“Kind of weird, wasn’t it?” said center fielder Brett Butler, who looked like he knew the Dodgers got away with one.

Pitches skipped to the backstop, baserunners and fielders did strange things at inopportune moments and almost every pitcher involved, including starter Orel Hershiser, gave up line drives to all corners of the ballpark.

The Dodgers won despite it all, 11-6, before 18,942 at Busch Stadium.

They did it by getting to Cardinal pitchers for six runs in the fifth inning, keyed by Eric Karros’ three-run home run, to break open a sloppy, seesaw game. After the Cardinals staged their own mini-rally with three runs against Hershiser in the fifth, the Dodgers added runs in the sixth and seventh to secure their 13th victory in 14 games.

“I guess you kind of take it for granted that Orel can go out with his eyes closed and hit spots,” said Butler, who had three hits and turned one misplay of a fly ball into a single.

“You’re right, it was sloppy. But the intensity was still there. We were wired into the game.”

The final tally: 23 total hits, 10 combined walks, two roughed up starting pitchers, two errors, several kind gestures by the official scorer on base-hit calls, one wild pitch, one passed ball and innumerable blows to baseball’s good name.

With Hershiser and Cardinal starter Joe Magrane (2-6) wobbly, the first inning alone was 35 minutes of 3-and-1 counts, misplayed ground balls and runners left on base. After the first, St. Louis had a 2-1 lead on Mark Whiten’s two-run single, and more confusion was soon to come.

“I was just bad all night,” said Hershiser, who left his last start early because he was hit on the pitching arm by a line drive. He had pitched only two innings in the past 12 days.

“I was just lost out there. Why I’m kind of lighthearted about it is because I know I’m fine. I was just (too) strong.”

But, for once, the Dodgers didn’t need Hershiser to deliver. Their 14 hits against four St. Louis pitchers gave them 60 hits through five games of this six-game road swing. The Dodgers are batting .323 as a team in those games.

They are 4-1 on the trip and have won 13 of their last 14 games, two in a row since their 11-game winning streak came to an end last Saturday at Pittsburgh.

“I’m just glad I didn’t upset the team’s momentum,” said Hershiser, who has not won at St. Louis since 1984. “It’s nice to have a bad outing and have the team keeping on winning. I don’t want to be the guy who shuts this winning streak down.”

Pedro Martinez (3-2), who whisked through 3 2/3 shutout innings after replacing Hershiser in the fifth, was about the only pitcher who escaped with his dignity and earned-run average intact.

Jim Gott, who hadn’t pitched since May 25, got out all three batters he faced in the ninth.

In the fifth inning, with the score tied, 3-3, the Dodgers had six hits, including Karros’ three-run home run, a two-run triple by Butler and a double by Jody Reed to make it 9-3.

In the bottom of the fifth, five Cardinal singles plus a walk scored three runs, knocking Hershiser out of the game short of the necessary innings to qualify as the winning pitcher.

Martinez was called on to restore order, but not before the lead was winnowed to 9-6. That, however, was the extent of the Cardinals’ staying power, and after all the slop, the final frames were a breeze.