Butler’s Catch Gives Dodgers Reason to Smile : Baseball: Back-handed grab preserves an 8-7 comeback victory over the Phillies as Dreifort earns first save.

John Kruk wasn’t sure what Darren Dreifort was throwing, but he kept swinging anyway. The Philadelphia Phillies were down, 8-7, Tuesday in the bottom of the ninth, with one out and runners on first and second, and Kruk didn’t care how much Dreifort’s ball was sinking and cutting and running.

He battled Dreifort to a 3-and-2 count, fouling off a number of pitches before Dreifort threw a sinker.

Kruk hit it well, and as the ball headed for the gap between right and center field, Brett Butler took off running. Butler thought it might be out of the park, but a crosswind helped slow the ball and he made a back-handed catch that helped preserve the Dodgers’ comeback victory.

“The pitch I hit didn’t run quite as much, and I thought it was good enough to get in the gap, but then that little . . . ran it down,” Kruk said.

Back on the mound, Dreifort still had a batter to face, so pitching coach Ron Perranoski went out to settle his young pitcher.

“And Dreifort says to me, ‘That was a hell of a catch, dude,’ ” Perranoski said. “I started laughing.”

Dreifort said, “It was nice of him to come out.”

Dreifort had a 1-and-2 count on pinch-hitter Ricky Jordan, then struck him out to earn his first save. Todd Worrell (1-1), pitched a perfect eighth inning with the score tied to earn the victory.

“It feels good,” Dreifort said, smiling.

The victory had the entire team smiling, even Dreifort, who stays so even-keel that his teammates notice when he smiles. It was a nice way to end a dismal trip. The Dodgers won only three of eight and return with a 5-9 record.

“We haven’t won a game like this all season, even though we have had a good shot at several,” said Eric Karros, who went two for five and scored two runs. “This game kept you on the edge of your seat but we finished it, something we haven’t been able to do.”

On a sunny afternoon at Veterans Stadium, the Dodgers finally put it together. Trailing by 7-3 and having arrived there in a most humiliating way, they scored four runs in the eighth inning to tie it, then went ahead in the ninth when Mitch Webster drove in Karros with a single to center against Doug Jones (1-1).

But things had looked bleak in the sixth inning, when Milt Thompson lined Pedro Astacio’s changeup into the right field bullpen for a three-run homer and a 6-2 Phillie lead. And what followed proved far more disconcerting.

After Kevin Stocker had singled to center, Curt Schilling, the Phillies’ starting pitcher, hit a soft liner that dropped in short right field barely inside the foul line. Raul Mondesi ran it down, gloved it and held it. By then Stocker was already at third. Instead of throwing to catcher Mike Piazza, Mondesi continued holding the ball, and Stocker scored.

“He should have thrown the ball immediately to the catcher,” Manager Tom Lasorda said.

That was all for Astacio, who has given up 13 runs in his last two starts. Gary Wayne, the goat in Monday’s game, came in and got Len Dykstra on a groundout to end the inning.

But the Dodgers came back in the eighth. They sent sent nine batters to the plate, went through three relievers and capitalized on an error, three walks, a wild pitch and two singles for four runs. Butler was the most impressive, wearing down David West with the bases loaded to walk in a run.

With the score tied at 7-7 and only Dreifort, Chan Ho Park and Worrell available, Lasorda had Worrell pitch the eighth inning. He wanted a reliever available who could go three or four innings if the game remained tied and that meant Dreifort. Park is considered a starter and long reliever.

The first batter Dreifort faced, Kim Batiste, drove a single to right field, but when he got to first base, he told Karros he didn’t know how he’d hit that pitch. “(Dreifort) has a lot of movement on that ball,” Batiste said.

Dreifort then got Dykstra on a close play at first, one Dreifort handled well for the putout.

“Good stuff, from what I saw,” Dykstra said.

Then Mickey Morandini hit a sharp grounder. Third baseman Tim Wallach dived for it, but Morandini beat the throw.

So with one out and the tying and winning runs on base, Kruk stepped to the plate and hit the ball to right center.

“Butler ran a mile to get there,” Dreifort said. “I was smiling when Butler made that catch.”