Dodgers Stifle Gross : Baseball: They give their pitcher little support during 5-1 loss to the Astros.

Why innings like the sixth in Tuesday’s game against the Houston Astros happen when Kevin Gross is pitching is anybody’s guess. Until then, Gross had faced only 19 batters and had given up only four hits.

But the Astros scored two unearned runs in that inning to take a 2-1 lead on their way to a 5-1 victory before 33,039 at Dodger Stadium.

All the Astros’ runs were unearned.

With the way Gross’ luck seems to go, the way the Astros took a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning was fitting. Nevertheless, it was a rare error that helped tie the score and a rare steal of home that put the Astros in front.

With one out and runners on first and second, Eric Anthony but was awarded first base on catcher’s interference. Piazza was given an error, only his second of the season.

Then, after Luis Gonzalez forced Anthony at second base, scoring Kevin Bass and moving Jeff Bagwell to third, the Astros took the lead when Bagwell scored on the front end of a delayed double steal.

With a 2-2 count on Scott Servais, Gonzalez took off for second. Piazza threw to second, failing to look Bagwell back to third. His throw was cut off by Lenny Harris, who threw back to Piazza, but it was too late to prevent Bagwell from scoring.

Gross battled back in the seventh inning, retiring the side, but with one out and Astros on first and second base in the eighth inning, he was relieved by Omar Daal.

It was another tough blow for Gross (5-6), who suffered another tough outing two starts ago in San Diego, when he gave up three hits through eight innings and left the game with a 4-0 lead before the Padres rallied for a 5-4 victory.

After that game, Gross was at a loss for words. And later, he said that an emotional game like that can take something out of pitcher. After struggling early in the season, Gross had won four of five games before the game against the Padres. But in his next start, last Wednesday at Colorado, he struggled again and then didn’t return after his shoulder stiffened during a 67-minute rain delay.

After Gross left Tuesday’s game, the Astros scored three more runs in the ninth inning off Roger McDowell with the help of two errors and a two-run homer by Bagwell. McDowell made one error on a pickoff attempt.

Piazza might have had other things on his mind.

With cleanup hitter Tim Wallach sidelined because of a bruised shoulder, Manager Tom Lasorda inserted Piazza into his place in the lineup. Piazza had not batted in the cleanup position all season. The highest he has batted is third, and when he began to falter at the plate, Lasorda moved him back down, saying the rookie had enough going on with learning his catching role. During those eight games he batted third--from April 15-23--Piazza’s batting average fell from .308 to .259, his lowest average this season.

But within six games of his return to the seventh position, Piazza had hit his way back to .307 and has fallen below .300 only one time since. His average hasn’t dropped below .333 since June 4 and he has been batting in the fifth position since May 15.

There were a couple of other lineup changes. Harris made another start at second base in place of Jody Reed, who got bad news Tuesday when an exam revealed that the injury to his non-throwing arm is a partial ligament tear. He will be sidelined for two weeks.

And with Wallach sidelined because of a bruised shoulder, Dave Hansen started at third base--Hansen’s first start this season. Wallach, who has gone over rails and into dugouts many times during his 13-year career trying to catch foul balls, said the five-foot tumble into the cement photographer’s well during Monday’s game was the worst he’s taken.

He landed on his head, then hit his left shoulder on a curb-type step as he rolled on his back. He bruised a muscle in his left shoulder that prevents him from swinging a bat and he is listed as day-to-day.

It was a tough break for Wallach, who had just recovered from soreness in the same shoulder.