Dodgers Escape in 10th : Baseball: Butler’s catch, Piazza’s bat fuel 3-2 victory over the Mets.

The ball was hit high and deep to center field and Brett Butler kept running back. Pitcher Orel Hershiser watched with trepidation. The crowd of 41,017 stood. Todd Hundley had started to circle the bases and two other New York Mets were headed for the plate.

But Butler, at the center-field wall, dug his cleats into the padding and climbed the eight-foot fence. He hoisted himself on top of the wall with his elbows, reached over and caught the ball with his glove. When the ball started to slip out he grabbed it with his bare hand and jumped back to the warning track in elation.

The seventh-inning catch preserved a 2-2 tie and helped send the Dodgers on to a 3-2 victory in 10 innings Friday night.

Arms raised in glee, he ran back to the Dodger dugout, but the crowd at Dodger Stadium wouldn’t stop cheering until Butler came out for a curtain call.

The Dodgers finally won when Mike Piazza, who had hit a two-run homer in the first inning, worked reliever Roger Mason to a full count before sending a ground-ball single into right field, scoring Delino DeShields.

“I haven’t seen that in a while, a curtain call for a catch,” Piazza said. “It was a great catch, I couldn’t believe it. . . . It can’t be described.”

DeShields had worked Mason for a two-out walk before stealing his 17th base of the season.

“I wasn’t going to go until Mike got two strikes on him, but when the count got even, it was a good count for me to run,” DeShields said.

For Butler, it was a catch he said exceeded his dreams. “It was the best catch I’ve ever made,” he said. “That was the 7-year-old little boy in me. . . . These are the things you dream about, that you make a great catch and propel your team to winning.”

It was a big game for Piazza, who, like the many of the other regulars, have been in a batting slump. The starting lineup showed up at 3 p.m. Friday to take early batting practice against a left-hander, Manager Tom Lasorda. When the game started, though, they were facing right-hander Pete Smith.

After DeShields doubled to center in the first, Piazza, who had been rested the previous game, hit Smith’s first pitch into the seats in the right-field pavilion. It was Piazza’s 20th home run of the season, making him the second player in Dodger history to hit at least 20 home runs in each of his first two seasons. Eric Karros was the first.

In the fourth, the Mets got three consecutive hits, including a run-scoring double by Kevin McReynolds, who was activated earlier in the day. Jeff Kent’s sacrifice fly to center made the score 2-2.

Hershiser, who gave up nine hits and walked only one, left in the seventh inning for a pinch-hitter. Ismael Valdes gave up one hit in the eighth inning, increasing his scoreless streak to 8 1/3 innings. Todd Worrell retired six of seven over the next two innings, walking and stranding Bobby Bonilla.

The defense of Raul Mondesi helped prevent a Met run in the seventh inning.

With none out and Rico Brogna on first, Jim Lindeman singled to right-center field. Mondesi fielded the ball and threw on the run. After crossing second base, Brogna decided not to try for third--but by the time he got back to the bag, Mondesi had nailed him with a perfect strike to Rafael Bournigal. It was Mondesi’s 13th assist, which leads the league, but it was Butler’s catch that will be remembered.

“Hundley has been crushing the ball against us,” Piazza said. “I looked at him after he hit it, and he flipped (his bat) like he got it all, and I said, ‘Oh . . . I couldn’t believe it . . . it was a great catch.