Giants’ Ninth No Symphony for Dodgers : Baseball: San Francisco gets a walk and two singles to turn a 4-3 deficit into 5-4 victory at Candlestick Park.

The series had been much too calm for these two teams, but all that changed on Sunday.

On a cool evening at Candlestick Park, the San Francisco Giants’ tempers flew, along with two home runs by the Dodgers. But in the end, a vow made last October by Matt Williams carried the most weight.

With Manager Dusty Baker, who was ejected during the seventh inning, watching the game from the clubhouse, Williams’ grounder to left in the bottom of the ninth scored the winning run in the Giants’ 5-4 comeback victory over the Dodgers.

“That was (Former Giant General Manager) Al Rosen on the phone,” Baker said after the game. “He said when I retire, I can come down and live in his house.”

While Darren Dreifort (0-2), who gave up both Giant runs in the ninth, walked back to the Dodger dugout, the Giants spilled out onto the field in celebration. Williams, whose softly hit ball followed two other dinky singles and a lead-off walk, said it was the most emotional victory this season.

“I don’t rank them, but I guess it is,” Williams said. “Everybody was hitting me on the head when the ball went through.”

Williams’ vow, since retracted, was directed at Orel Hershiser, whom he believed had criticized him incessantly throughout the Dodgers 12-1 rout in the final game of last season, which knocked the Giants out of the division race.

Hershiser started Sunday’s game, but he wasn’t there at the end. After slightly jamming his hip sliding into second base in an angry seventh, Hershiser left the game after giving up a leadoff homer to Todd Benzinger, which got the Giants within one run, in the bottom of the inning.

“It was tough to lose a game when we were ahead in the ninth,” Hershiser said, “and to lose it in the manner we did. The hits that scored the runs were on balls that weren’t hit well, and we thought we made a lot of good pitches.”

For the Dodgers, the loss meant a wasted opportunity to tie the Giants for first place in the division. It put them back in the same place they were when the series begin, in third place, two games behind.

“I don’t think the team is saying, ‘Oh no, we didn’t get to first place in this series,’ ” Hershiser said. “I don’t think that is on the team’s mind.”

Brett Butler’s mind is occupied with thoughts about his left thumb, which was hit by a pitch in the seventh inning and could be bruised or broken. He was scheduled to have X-rays after the game.

That incident had Baker going jaw-to-jaw with plate umpire Joe West, who threw Baker and catcher Kirt Manwaring out of the game.

Hershiser had led off the inning with a single to right, and stolen second base after he got hung up off first. That’s when he jammed his hip. Butler followed with a bunt attempt, but when he squared, the pitch hit his hand.

West said reliever Steve Frey’s pitch hit Butler as Butler was pulling back, and he was awarded first base.

Baker was furious, and, even after he got ejected, went on to speak his mind.

“There were a lot of questionable calls and I thought it hit the bat and an argument ensued,” said Baker, who wasn’t angry any longer. “After he threw me out, I thought I might as well tell him what I thought.”

During the fifth inning, Baker argued after West ruled that Darren Lewis had put the wood on the bat before the ball came back to hit him on a bunt attempt.

This series had been much too gentlemanly for these two teams anyway, especially considering last season’s finale.

The Giants took a 2-0 lead in the third with five hits off Hershiser, including a one-run single by Barry Bonds, who was two for four in his first game since being sidelined with a bruised elbow.

The Dodgers tied the score in the fourth with a two-run homer by Henry Rodriguez, his fourth of the season. They went ahead in the sixth on a two-run shot by Wallach, who always hits well on Mother’s Day.

In the past four seasons, he has batted .474 with two doubles, three home runs and 12 runs batted in on Mother’s Day. On May 13, 1990, he knocked in a career-high eight runs.

Both of Sunday’s homers came off Salomon Torres, who was relieved by Frey in the sixth inning.

Both teams had plenty of opportunities to score, with each team stranding 10 baserunners.

In the bottom of the seventh, Jim Gott inherited a bases-loaded jam with one out, and pitched out, getting Williams to fly out and Bonds to pop out. But it was the ninth inning that decided this game.

“Dreifort kept the ball on the ground,” Manager Tom Lasorda said. “That’s what he needs to do and he did it. He can’t help it if they find holes.

“This was a tough one to lose.”