Mid-Count Crisis Averted as Dodgers Beat Padres, 2-1

Orel Hershiser lasted 130 pitches Sunday afternoon against the San Diego Padres. That 130th pitch, which came in the ninth inning, was hardly climactic. It was not a hit that drove him from the game. It was not even ball four.

That 130th pitch ran the count on the Padres’ Kurt Stillwell to three balls and one strike.

Reliever Jim Gott threw a fourth ball to walk Stillwell and load the bases. He got pinch-hitter Tim Teufel to bounce to second to preserve a 2-1 Dodger victory.

Unknowingly, the crowd of 19,089 had witnessed a piece of history. This was not big history, as when Hershiser ran his scoreless inning streak to 59 here in 1988. This was little history, personal history.

“That,” said Hershiser, “is probably the first time in my life I’ve been pulled in the middle of the count.”

Said Manager Tom Lasorda: “I think that’s what John Dillinger said. Something about this never happening to him before.”

Hershiser was hardly second-guessing his manager, not the way Gott has been slamming doors. The save was his 10th and lowered his earned-run average to 1.53.

“They did the right thing getting Gott in there,” Hershiser said. “He’s our stopper. When you’ve thrown 130 pitches, you can’t complain. I knew I was losing it.”

Hershiser was hardly in mortal danger, but the lady in the red dress was in the neighborhood. Fred McGriff had led off the inning for the Padres with a double down the right field line and moved to third with the tying run on an infield out. With one out and the infield in, Hershiser got Derek Bell to chase the first pitch and pop a foul to catcher Mike Piazza. The pressure was off a bit, at least in terms of the Padres tying the score on an out.

“What a pitch that was,” Lasorda said. “He let it all go right there.”

When Hershiser followed by walking Kevin Higgins, he did two things: He put the winning run on base, and he forced Eric Karros to hold Higgins close to first base.

“I couldn’t pitch Stillwell inside,” he said, “because I was afraid of that hole on the right side. Anything hit through there ties the game.”

So he went up and away and soon he was out of the game in the middle of the count . . . for perhaps the first time in his career.

Hershiser improved to 6-4 and lowered his earned-run average to 3.67. This was his first victory, his first decision in fact, since a shutout May 21 against Colorado.

The Dodgers’ offense got an assist early, not from a lady in a red dress but from an intruder in a low-cut black tank top and black shorts. Piazza was stepping to the plate in the first inning with Jose Offerman on third when the woman emerged from the stands near the Padres’ dugout. She raced to the mound and embraced Padre pitcher Greg Harris.

Piazza then hit the first pitch up the middle for a single driving Offerman home. The Dodgers never lost the lead.

Piazza had two hits to increase his average to .335 and threw out both Padres who attempted to steal second. He is looking more and more like an All-Star in his rookie year.

“I hope he is,” Lasorda said, “but all I’m really wishing is that he stays healthy.”

One of those “caught stealings” came on a pivotal pitch in a pivotal at-bat by Gary Sheffield in the eighth inning. Sheffield already had a fourth-inning double, leading to the Padres’ run, and a sixth-inning single.

“We kind of laughed at each other after that single,” Hershiser said. “I had thrown him two off-speed pitches, almost blooper balls, and then he takes that hard fast ball up the middle. It was a great piece of hitting. I had to tip my cap to him.”

Sheffield, with Jeff Gardner on first base, hit a line drive barely foul down the left field line and another line drive barely foul with home run depth. Hershiser worked the count to 3-and-2 and caught Sheffield looking at strike three with a curveball. Gardner, running on the pitch, was cut down at second by Piazza.