Dodgers Ride Crest of Unexpected, 2-1 : Baseball: Reserves Webster and Hernandez homer against the Expos, giving Candiotti his first victory since May 31.

The Dodgers are discovering a problem with chasing Giants: Even when they miss a stride or two, it takes a hard sprint to keep up.

Catching them? It seems as unlikely as reserves Mitch Webster and Carlos Hernandez hitting home runs on back-to-back Montreal pitches.

Or as improbable as the Dodgers’ new relief ace being Pedro Martinez. Or as improbable as knuckleballer Tom Candiotti ending his seven-game no-decision streak without throwing very many knuckleballs at all.

“Weird things can happen, huh?” Candiotti said.

Weird things must happen for the Dodgers to catch the Giants--and the second-place Atlanta Braves, who bolstered their lineup by acquiring Padre first baseman Fred McGriff on Sunday.

The only thing the Dodgers acquired Sunday was this odd victory, 2-1, over the Expos before 35,321 at Dodger Stadium.

But the victory, their fourth in five games, narrowed their deficit to 11 games behind San Francisco and kept them three in back of the Braves in the National League West.

All three Dodger victories in this series were by low-scoring, one-run totals. Sunday’s game rested on the bats of two replacements--Webster in right field and Hernandez at catcher.

Their consecutive home runs came against Expo reliever Jeff Shaw in the seventh, erasing the Expos’ 1-0 lead as Candiotti was tiring.

“I was really struggling,” he said. “To me, it felt like I had pitched a long time. I just happened to get out of a few jams.”

Candiotti (4-5), who said he never felt in control of his knuckler, instead kept the Expos off-balance with his curve and fastball, giving up only Moises Alou’s home run in the second inning in his seven innings and 121 pitches. He struck out eight, giving up four hits and five walks.

In his previous seven starts, Candiotti had a 1.87 earned-run average but no victories. His last victory came May 31, and the last time the Dodgers gave him a comfortable lead to work with seemed longer than that.

“I thought sure as hell (Candiotti) was going to start suing us for non-support,” Manager Tom Lasorda said, laughing after the game.

Said Candiotti: “I thought I would win again, but I wasn’t sure there for a while.”

Pedro Martinez took over after Omar Daal got one out in the eighth, and proceeded to strike out four of the seven he faced. He got his second save.

Lasorda let Martinez work the ninth with Jim Gott, Saturday night’s goat, and Todd Worrell, the once and perhaps future stopper, staring in from the Dodger bullpen mounds.

Martinez, pitching for the third time in four days, extended his scoreless innings streak to 13 2/3.

“That shows that they have confidence in me to do anything,” Martinez said.

Webster and Hernandez, for their parts, were only in the game by chance. Webster played right because regular right fielder Cory Snyder moved to third to replace injured Tim Wallach. Webster led off the seventh by hitting his second home run of the season on a 0-and-1 count, tying the score, 1-1.

Hernandez was in the game only because he usually catches Candiotti. It was home run No. 2 for him, too, on a slider over the plate that he hooked into the home bullpen. But Hernandez said he didn’t know he would be playing until less than two hours before the game.

“I was in the weight room and I found out I was playing today,” Hernandez said.

“I don’t get a lot of chances to play. Makes your day.”