Candiotti’s Pitching Is Only Part of Story : Baseball: Dodgers pound Cardinal pitchers for 12 hits in 7-3 victory. Knuckleballer has four-hitter.

The last time Tom Candiotti pitched a complete game at Busch Stadium before Tuesday, it made every highlight reel in the country. But what was seen for days to come was a throw by Mike Piazza that hit Candiotti in, well, the behind.

“Of all the catchers who have ever caught me, Mike probably catches me the best and is a big target for me back there,” Candiotti said. “And yes, in this stadium, I guess I’ve been a good target for him.”

And so it goes for Candiotti, who was the most consistent pitcher on the Dodger staff last season but is seemingly always overshadowed by something. Tuesday night against the St. Louis Cardinals, Candiotti (2-0) pitched a four-hitter in a 7-3 victory, becoming the first Dodger pitcher to throw consecutive complete games to start the season since Orel Hershiser in 1986.

But Candiotti’s knuckleball, which moved well in the windy, cold air, wasn’t the only story of this game.

The Dodgers finally started hitting. After scoring only 11 runs and collecting 29 hits in their first six games, they had 12 hits Tuesday, including five doubles and a home run.

For Candiotti, who had the worst run support in the major leagues last season, pitching with a six-run lead, including a run he drove in, was a welcome reprieve.

“The first game I pitched, we got three runs and tonight we came out of the chute really well,” said Candiotti, who kept his earned-run average at 2.00. “We got most of our runs early in the game and when you do that, it puts pressure on the other team.”

Against Cardinal starter Rene Arocha (0-1), the Dodgers scored two runs in the second inning and two in the fourth before breaking the game open in the sixth, when Tim Wallach hit a two-run homer to give the Dodgers a 6-1 lead. Wallach drove a 2-2 pitch into the seats in center field, about 440 feet from the plate, for his first home run of the season. It was enough to send Arocha out of the game, and Manager Joe Torre used four relievers to finish it off.

Hitless through the first four games of the season, Wallach started to break out of his slump Saturday against the Atlanta Braves. He is five for nine, with three runs batted in and three runs scored, in the last three games.

“I’m confident I can still hit and do the things I haven’t been able to do the past couple of seasons,” said Wallach, who was two for four with two RBIs and two runs scored. “I feel better about where I’m at both physically and mentally and am in better shape than I have been in some time. And I think that’s due to being able to go to the stadium during the winter and work out six hours three times a week, in the batting cages with Reggie (Smith) and (in the weight room).”

Wallach got things started in the second inning with a line drive to right field, but was forced at second by Henry Rodriguez. Raul Mondesi and Jose Offerman followed with consecutive doubles to put the Dodgers ahead, 2-0.

Offerman’s double off the left-center field wall was his first hit of the season in 15 at-bats. Mondesi ended the night three for four, with two doubles and an RBI.

“(Coach) Manny Mota talked to me before the game and told me not to worry,” Mondesi said. “He said, ‘Everybody knows you can hit, so just go out and play.’ What he said gave me more confidence.”

Confidence is not a problem for Candiotti.

During a stretch of 15 starts last summer, he was 5-0 with a 1.61 ERA and 10 no-decisions. With the Dodgers scoring a major league-low average of 2.53 runs in games Candiotti started, he ended the season with an 8-10 record but a 3.12 ERA, seventh-best in the league. Still, a knuckleball pitcher, no matter how good, is often overshadowed by the other pitchers on the staff.

“I guess it is just the enigma of the pitch, really, if someone says a knuckleballer is the ace of the staff, they probably think that everybody else on the staff is pretty bad,” Candiotti said. “Most people think a knuckleball is a pitch that someone goes to when they don’t have good enough other stuff, but it’s different in my case. I don’t mind being a contributing partner to the rotation. . . .

“In Cleveland, I was considered the ace and in Toronto they had me start (Game 1 of the playoffs), so somebody there thought I was pretty good. But it doesn’t bother me, I have confidence in my ability and normally go out and give them a chance to win every time.”

Certainly, he did that Tuesday.