At Least Dodgers Get Hits : Baseball: But only four of them, as Braves win in 10th, 2-1, for sixth in a row. Gross strikes out 11.

Nine great innings of pitching aside, Saturday’s game came down to a throw and a catch.

Raul Mondesi threw it, but Mike Piazza couldn’t catch it.

Putting to rest an impressive pitching duel, pinch-runner Mike Kelly scored on Jeff Blauser’s single in the 10th as the Atlanta Braves slid past the Dodgers, 2-1, before a crowd of 42,996 at Dodger Stadium.

Wasted in the effort was an 11-strikeout performance by Dodger starter Kevin Gross, who bore no signs of shoulder problems in a splendid seven-inning effort.

Greg Maddux, the two-time Cy Young Award winner, outlasted Gross to improve to 2-0. Maddux gave up four hits in nine innings, with four strikeouts and one walk.

Greg McMichael pitched a scoreless 10th to pick up his first save.

Todd Worrell took the loss for the Dodgers, and it would be tough to swallow.

With one out in the 10th, Mark Lemke slapped a single to left off Worrell. After pinch-hitter Tony Tarasco lined to right, Deion Sanders singled to center. Kelly, running for Lemke, stopped at second.

Blauser then dropped an opposite-field single to right. Kelly, running at the crack of the bat, charged home. Mondesi fielded the ball on a short hop and fired a strike home on one wicked bounce, the ball handcuffing Piazza, who could not make the play.

The throw had beaten Kelly to the plate. But, all told, it would add up to another Dodger loss.

The Dodgers, still mired in their hitting slump, went down in order in the 10th.

One night after being no-hit, and batting .138 as a team, the Dodgers managed only four hits off Atlanta pitching, three by Mondesi.

With the victory, the Braves improved to 6-0. The Dodgers fell to 2-3. The only consolation was that Atlanta no longer resides in the National League West.

After giving up a run during a shaky first inning, Gross settled down and turned downright dominating in his 1994 debut. The question going in concerned tenderness that has plagued Gross’ pitching shoulder most of the spring.

Yet, Gross was overpowering. He gave up four hits and hit one batter.

It marked the eighth time Gross has struck out 10 or more in his career, and it was the most he has recorded since striking out 12 Chicago Cubs in 1992.

Gross gave up only one hit after the first. He did not surrender another after a leadoff bunt single to Sanders in the third.

There were rumblings this spring that Gross might lose his spot in the rotation.

“They hung with me and here I am,” Gross said after his performance. “I don’t look at this as a wasted effort.”

Gross would hurt his cause only at the plate.

He missed a great opportunity to help himself in the bottom of the fifth, when, with one out and runners on first and third, he grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Maddux, in turn, would match Gross through seven and then some on a chilly night.

“A perfect night to pitch,” Maddux said.

Other scoring opportunities were squandered. Brett Butler walked on a 3-2 pitch to open the ninth, but was erased when Mike Piazza grounded into a double play.

In the eighth, after Mondesi singled and stole second, Jose Offerman and Mitch Webster popped meekly to third and Delino DeShields flied to left.

The Braves stranded Sanders at third in the third. In the eighth, they had runners on first and third with two out against reliever Gary Wayne, but were denied when Ryan Klesko grounded into a force play.

The Braves scored in the first inning when leadoff man Sanders singled, stole second, advanced to third on Blauser’s broken-bat single and scored on Fred McGriff’s single to right.

It could have been a lot worse for Gross, who escaped relatively unharmed after giving up three hits while facing six batters.

Notions of consecutive no-hitters thrown against the Dodgers were dashed when Tim Wallach singled to left with one out in the second. It was Wallach’s first hit of the season after an 0-for-13 start.