BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : It’s Nothing Funny When Piazza’s Hit

Mike Piazza was hit by a bat in left elbow by Andujar Cedeno in the ninth inning, causing him a great deal of pain, but he stayed in the game.

“The bat came around his back and hit me in the funny bone,” Piazza said. “It’s a little sore. . . . it hit pretty hard. It wasn’t a glancing blow.”

Piazza, who combined with Rafael Bournigal in the third inning on a key pickoff of Scott Servais, praised Bournigal’s aggressiveness in the field. “Rafael is always out there looking for something to help us out,” Piazza said. “Rafael was out there sneaking behind the runner and when you have fielders like that who are aggressive, it’s great. It takes me a little time to pull the trigger, but I did and we got him.”

Besides his defense, Bournigal had a two-run single in the eighth that made the score 7-1.

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After the game, the Astros announced that they had traded right-handed reliever Tom Edens to the Philadelphia Phillies for outfielder Milt Thompson. The deadline for trading a player without going through waivers was midnight Sunday.

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Ramon Martinez, who had two bad outings before Sunday, said part of his success this season is because he is more aggressive. “I didn’t worry too much about the last two starts because in one I didn’t know I was pitching until that moment and in the other game I had only three days’ rest,” Martinez said. “But this time I had the rest and I knew I could pitch my game.”

Martinez, who tired in the ninth inning, was relieved by Todd Worrell, who entered the game with a runner on first and none out. Worrell struck out the next three batters swinging to end the game. *

Delino DeShields, who suffers from poor low-arch support, has been wearing arches in his shoes the last few games, and says it has made a difference. He has stolen eight bases in his last six games, giving him 26 stolen bases this season. He has been caught six times. *

Rudy Seanez has not given up a run in his last five outings. In his last nine games he has a 1.98 earned-run average, giving up three runs in 13 2/3 innings. He has stranded four of his last five inherited runners and struck out 13. . . . The Dodgers have played 41 games before crowds of 40,000 or more this season and are 24-17 in those games. The team is 11-7 before crowds of 50,000 or more.