Dodgers Sparkle, Win, 5-3 : Baseball: They score twice in seventh to break 3-3 tie and beat Giants in front of 54,667.

If the 54,667 who attended the Dodger game Wednesday night only saw the sixth and seventh innings, they got their money’s worth.

But for the benefit of the largest crowd at Dodger stadium this season, in part because of a fireworks show, the Dodgers put on their own show with some clutch defense and by scoring two runs to break a tie and beat the Giants, 5-3.

The Dodgers took the series against the Giants, beating them two of three games. They have now won four of six against the National League West leaders. It puts the Dodgers 10 1/2 games back, but gives them momentum for the upcoming 11-game trip that begins Friday at Montreal.

It was not only the largest crowd the Dodgers have had all season, but it was the loudest, an energetic group that saw a game change leads three times until the Dodgers came back to tie the score in the sixth, 3-3.

By the time the seventh inning rolled around, the game was already 2 1/2 hours long and the Dodgers were facing Kevin Rogers (0-2), the Giants’ fourth pitcher. With Jose Offerman on first with a lead-off walk, Cory Snyder hit a line dive to short left field that Barry Bonds charged but threw on a bounce to third base, and Offerman was safe and so was Snyder, who had moved to second on the throw. Eric Karros followed with an opposite-field single to right-field that Willie McGee bobbled, and Offerman and Snyder scored easily to give the Dodgers a two-run lead.

Pedro Martinez (5-2), who relieved starter Pedro Astacio to pitch the seventh inning, held the Giants scoreless for two innings. Jim Gott pitched the ninth inning for his 13th save.

But the crowd’s excitement seemed to peak during the sixth inning, and it started with the great defensive play of fill-in third baseman Mike Benjamin and some good base-running by another third baseman--Cory Snyder.

Someone had asked Giant Manager Dusty Baker the other day if he felt the team would suffer at third base since Matt Williams has gone on the 15-day disabled list with an abdominal injury. Baker replied: “You mean with Benji?”

Baker’s answer was clear in the sixth inning Wednesday, when the Dodgers, trailing, 3-2, had runners on first and third base with no outs. Mike Piazza hit a grounder to third base and Snyder, taking a lead, kept the Dodgers out of a double play when he got caught off the bag by Benjamin, who tagged him as he ran him to the plate.

Then with Karros, who had singled to move Snyder to third base, on second base and Piazza on first, Eric Davis hit a hard grounder inside the third base line that Benjamin dove for, came up with, stepped on the bag to get the force on Karros and almost got Davis at first. That was all for Giant left-hander Bryan Hickerson, who was converted this season by Baker from a long-reliever to a starter after Jeff Brantley’s conversion didn’t work out. Brantley was summoned to relieve Hickerson, and promptly walked Mitch Webster. Then up came Mike Sharperson. He worked Brantley to a 2-2 count and fouled off four balls before grounding a shot up the middle that Royce Clayton dove for and made a great stop on. But Sharperson charged down the line, beating Clayton’s throw by inches as he tumbled over the bag to score Piazza, who tied the score, 3-3.

Sharperson was walked off the field by trainer Bill Buhler, and it was later learned that he suffered a strained left hamstring. Lenny Harris was sent in to run for him and later took over at second base.

Then came the battle of the managers. Manager Tom Lasorda sent up lefty Dave Hansen to pinch hit for starter Astacio, but Baker countered by pulling the right-handed Brantley and putting lefty Dave Righetti on the mound.

So Lasorda pulled Hansen and pinch-hit Tim Wallach, who hasn’t started since Monday’s game to try and rest the pinch-nerve in his neck and his sore left shoulder. Wallach worked Righetti to a full count, and then with the crowd on its feet, he flew out to right field.

Snyder started at third base in place of Wallach and Lasorda put Webster in right field. Webster, known for his skill as a pinch-hitter, is actually hitting better this season when he starts. In 20 starts before Wednesday, Webster was batting .303 with two doubles, a triple and home run and seven runs batted in. As a pinch-hitter, Webster is three for 19 (.158).

It was Webster’s line drive to left field in the second inning that scored Karros, who had doubled, in the second inning to put the Dodgers up, 1-0. Then, after the Giants came back and tied the score in the third, it was Webster who scored the go-ahead run in the fifth after he led off with a ground ball inside the third-base line, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Astacio and scored on a broken-bat bloop single by Brett Butler.