Dodgers Recycle the Reds : Baseball: L.A. wins again, 10-3, as Butler goes four for five and is left needing only a double to make the record book.

The Dodgers left for Los Angeles on Sunday night with a 3 1/2-game lead in the National League West after beating the Cincinnati Reds, 10-3, and winning two of three games at Riverfront Stadium, where the Reds have the best home record in baseball.

But there is little this team does that surprises anymore, unless it’s Brett Butler almost hitting for the cycle.

“I think when Brett Butler hits a home run, there isn’t anybody in the world who isn’t surprised, especially Butler,” Manager Tom Lasorda said.

As Butler walked to the plate for the fifth time Sunday, all he needed was a double. He had already hit a triple, two singles and his third home run of the season.

Butler swung so hard in striking out against reliever Pete Schourek that he threw the bat halfway to the mound. But for a guy who thought he was getting the day off, his four-for-five performance with three runs scored and three runs batted in was more than acceptable.

“Somebody told me before I hit my single (in the sixth inning) that I should just keep running, but I couldn’t do that, that ball was hit right at him,” said Butler, who is batting .350. “It’s never happened to me, hitting for the cycle, but I was trying too hard in the fifth at-bat, putting too much pressure on.”

And the Dodgers kept the pressure on the Reds, becoming only the fourth team to win a series against the National League Central leaders this season.

Mike Piazza hit a towering three-run homer to left in the Dodgers’ six-run sixth inning, going two for three in the game and scoring two runs. Raul Mondesi hit two doubles, extending his hitting streak to 14 games, and also scored twice and drove in a run.

Pedro Astacio (3-3) had his fifth solid outing in six starts, holding the Reds to one run and seven hits in eight innings and lowering his earned-run average to 3.77.

“This is a game of momentum and of streaks, but I think the thing that is the best about this team is how we bounce back after a tough loss,” Piazza said. “There have been a couple of games we have lost in the ninth inning that we should have won, but we didn’t let them get us down.”

Since splitting a four-game series with the San Francisco Giants, the Dodgers have won 11 of their last 13 games. They swept the Houston Astros and the San Diego Padres, then won three of four from Colorado and two of three from the Reds.

The Dodgers dominated Sunday’s game from the beginning, with Butler hitting starter Tim Pugh’s first pitch into the gap in right-center field for his league-leading sixth triple this season. Pugh (3-2) gave up four runs in five innings and Schourek pitched the rest of the way.

Butler has 21 triples the last two seasons, but his three home runs are one shy of his total output the past two seasons, and the Dodgers have played only 44 games.

“Reggie (Smith, the Dodgers’ hitting instructor) has worked with me and helped, he showed me some things over the past five years when I have hit well and what has worked,” Butler said. “I’ve been known for hitting the ball up the middle and the other way, bunting a lot and taking the first pitch, so I have changed things a little, like swinging early in the count and trying to mess up the scouting report.”

Besides his new-found power, Butler, who has 257 career bunts, leads the league with a .480 on-base percentage and 35 walks. He ranks in the top 10 with 11 stolen bases, 56 hits, 36 runs scored and a .350 batting average. And all he set out to do this season was to enjoy himself.

“Last year was so bad and the year before was terrible, we struggled, but ’91 was a blast,” said Butler, who will turn 37 June 15. “So when I left for Florida this spring I said I was going to go out and have fun. I’m in the last year of my contract and I don’t know what is going to happen. So this year I’m trying to enjoy myself a little more.”