Cubs Stymie Dodgers, Win Eighth in Row

He is being likened to a young Roberto Clemente, so exceptional is Raul Mondesi’s ability in the field. And Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, Mondesi did not disappoint.

The crowd of 31,912, some who had come to see the Dodgers’ league-leading offense, were once again denied. Against Chicago, the Dodgers were held to four hits in a 2-0 complete-game victory by Willie Banks, who extended the Cub winning streak to eight games.

“It is one of the best games thrown against us this season,” Dodger first baseman Eric Karros said.

But what the crowd did see was another solid pitching performance by Orel Hershiser (3-1, 2.50 earned run average) and a play by Mondesi in the eighth inning that won’t soon be forgotten.

With the Cubs ahead, 2-0, and Shawon Dunston on second base, Mark Grace hit a drive into the gap in right center. Mondesi, who was shading Grace toward the right field line, took off running, stretched his glove out, dived and caught the ball, holding on as he tumbled to the ground.

“Was that good?” Mondesi asked. “That was not like a great catch, that was just a good one.”

After scoring 46 runs in seven games, the Dodgers have only three runs in their last two games, and all of them were driven in by a pitcher, Kevin Gross.

“Our bats have been still, you could say,” Manager Tom Lasorda said. “I’m hoping they won’t be that way tomorrow.”

Lasorda said he won’t change the lineup, but it took him a while to answer that question. Since hitting a three-run homer and driving in a fourth run against Colorado in the Dodgers’ first game of their recent trip, cleanup hitter Tim Wallach has three hits in his last 30 at-bats.

Against Banks (5-4), the Dodgers got three of their hits in the first two innings and didn’t get their fourth until the eighth inning, when Jeff Treadway pinch-hit for Hershiser and singled up the middle.

“Tonight was the best I have thrown my curveball since high school,” said Banks, who pitched the first complete game of his career. “Lasorda told me a long time ago at a banquet that if I ever pitched against the Dodgers, that ‘We are going to kick your . . .,’ and that has always stayed with me in the back of my mind.”

This was the first time in his 10 starts that Hershiser left the game with his team trailing. In seven of his starts, he has turned over a lead to the bullpen and in the other two, he left with a tie. He has held opponents to three earned runs or less in all 10, pitching six innings or more in each start. In six of his starts, the Dodgers have won.

“I feel better this season then at any time since my surgery, but it hasn’t all of a sudden been like, ‘One year and he’s back,’ it’s been going to the training room and putting in a lot of hours of work,” Hershiser said.

The Cubs scored twice in the fourth inning. After Dunston was safe on a close play at first and Ryne Sandberg singled, Mark Grace’s fly ball advanced the runners to second and third. Derrick May’s groundout scored Dunston and Sammy Sosa’s double off the wall in center scored Sandberg. The Cubs would have scored in the eighth inning if not for Mondesi’s catch.

“I played with Roberto Clemente for six years, and Mondesi reminds me of him more than any other fielder I have ever seen,” said Coach Manny Mota, who has helped teach Mondesi.

“Roberto believed that he was the best, and when Mondesi is in the field, he thinks he is the best. The way he fields and throws, it reminds me of Roberto.

“Reggie Smith did a good job of preparing him during spring training for playing right field--that was Reggie’s position, you know. He worked with him in the outfield every day.”