Spotlight Gets in Nomo’s Eyes in Home Debut : Baseball: With Japan watching on TV, he walks seven in four innings, but Dodgers win, 8-4, when Cardinals make seven errors.

Was pitcher Hideo Nomo nervous before making his Dodger Stadium debut?

His first warm-up pitch sailed high over the left shoulder of catcher Carlos Hernandez before Friday night’s 8-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, who seemed a little shaky themselves, committing seven errors.

“That’s purpose pitch,” Nomo said through an interpreter when asked about his first warm-up. “I was supposed to throw it.”

Why was that?

“Many camera there,” Nomo said.

Making his third major league start, Nomo lasted four innings before giving way to reliever Todd Williams, who earned his second major league victory.

Nomo, who came into the game with a 6.52 earned-run average, yielded three runs--one earned--in his shortest stint yet. Although he didn’t give up a hit, he walked seven, after walking six in his first two games.

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said Nomo, who threw 94 pitches, 52 for strikes, pitched well enough to win.

“With all the fanfare going on here before the ballgame he just didn’t have the time to relax and prepare himself for the game,” Lasorda said. “He wasn’t wild, he was just missing. There were so many pitches that he just missed. They didn’t hit him and three runs were unearned.

“I can’t blame him. I think he did a good job, considering. . . . If a guy is wild he throws one ball here and one ball there. This guy was just missing with a lot of three-two pitches that were very close.”

Leading, 3-2, Nomo walked Danny Scheaffer on a 3-and-2 pitch to force in the tying run in the third inning and was also charged with a wild pitch and a balk.

The atmosphere was charged before the game as Nomo, the second Japanese-born player to play in the majors, pitched in his first home game.

The Dodgers issued 150 media credentials, including 85 to the Japanese media, who were treated to sushi before the game, which was televised live in Japan.

Flashbulbs looked like strobe lights as many in the crowd of 34,159 tried to photograph Nomo’s trademark windup.

“He knows the spotlight’s there, and the spotlight’s going to stay there,” Dodger Executive Vice President Fred Claire said of Nomo. “This is an exciting night for him, for us and for everybody. I think this has always been a good pitcher’s park. I think this will prove to be a very good ballpark for him.”

Nomo could have gotten out of the first inning without a run, but Dodger third baseman Garey Ingram botched Brian Jordan’s routine grounder, the ball getting into left field to score Lankford and Zeile.

Nomo departed for a pinch hitter in the fourth inning.

The Dodgers began life without all-star catcher Mike Piazza, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Thursday because of a torn ligament in his left thumb.

The Dodgers quickly displayed that they can produce without Piazza, who was batting .537. Raul Mondesi went two for four with three RBIs as the Dodgers won for the sixth time in eight games.

After driving in Jose Offerman in with a first-inning double, Mondesi hit a two-run homer into the left-field bullpen in the sixth inning.

Karros, who inherited Piazza’s cleanup spot, went two for four.

And left fielder Billy Ashley, who came into the game hitting only .129, went three for four with two RBIs and scored two runs.

The Dodgers and Cardinals combined for 12 errors, three shy of a 91-year-old major league record that was set by the Chicago Cubs and Boston Braves on Oct. 3, 1904. Dodger third baseman Ingram and Cardinal third baseman Scott Cooper each had three errors.

“I’ve never seen so many errors,” Ashley said. “In fact, Eric (Karros) said to me, “we’ve got 11 errors out there and you haven’t gotten one of them.”