Dodgers Win It in Ninth : Baseball: Karros’ sacrifice fly beats Cubs, 7-6, after Worrell gives up tying run in top of the inning.

On a day Dodger management finally severed its relationship with Darryl Strawberry, the players responded as they said they would. Neither surprised that Strawberry had been released, nor affected professionally by the news, the Dodgers went out Wednesday and beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-6, in the style they have used all season--with another ninth-inning adventure. “I kind of see us horsepower-wise like a V-8 engine running on seven cylinders; we need to get that eighth one going,” said Todd Worrell (3-2) after the Dodgers stopped the Cubs’ winning streak at eight games before 54,374 at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers, though, have gotten used to one-run games, having played 24 of them and won 13. They won in the bottom of the ninth, when, with the bases loaded and none out, pinch-hitter Eric Karros, having been rested for the game, drove in Jose Offerman with a fly ball to center against reliever Dan Plesac (1-2).

“I don’t ever want a day off at my age; I should be able to go out and play every day,” said Karros, hitless in his last 13 at-bats before Wednesday, when Manager Tom Lasorda benched Karros and Tim Wallach.

Offerman had led off the inning with a single and went to second when Ryne Sandberg made a bad throw to first. Manager Tom Lasorda originally sent up Karros, but called him back in favor of Mitch Webster, thinking that with left-hander Plesac pitching, the Cubs would walk a right-handed batter to get to left-handed hitter Brett Butler. The move paid off, with Webster’s single to left moving Offerman to third.

Butler, an excellent bunter, was up, but Lasorda said he didn’t give thought to a suicide squeeze. “He missed two already this season,” Lasorda said.

Butler walked to load the bases before Karros, batting for Jeff Treadway, hit the sacrifice fly.

The Dodgers had a 6-2 lead before the seventh inning, and a 6-5 lead before the ninth, when Glenallen Hill scored the Cubs’ tying run after Kevin Roberson’s double to right center against Worrell.

Shawon Dunston’s three-run homer off Tom Candiotti in the seventh inning brought the Cubs within a run and sent Candiotti him to the showers. Gott held the Cubs scoreless through the eighth and left after walking Steve Buechele to lead off the ninth.

Al Osuna struck out Rick Wilkins before Worrell gave up Roberson’s double. But the Dodgers said they kept believing they could win, an attitude that helped them win 11 of 13 games before this home stand.

“We had it (the feeling) the last home stand, we had it on the road, it’s probably the way the Cubs thought tonight when they were coming back in the ninth,” said Candiotti, who gave up five runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings.

The Dodgers snapped out of their malaise, scoring at least twice the number of runs they had in the previous two games.

The Dodgers’ sixth run of the game, though, caused concern in the Dodger dugout. Delino Deshields suffered a cut middle finger on his left hand when scoring on Jim Bullinger’s wild pitch in the fifth inning. Although the injury appears to be minor, he left the game and received three stitches. He will have X-rays today.