Piazza’s Power May Be Contagious for Dodgers

Mike Piazza, who had two home runs and six runs batted in in his last two games, drove in three runs with a two-run, two-out double and a run-scoring single as the Dodgers extended their winning streak to three with a 6-4 victory over the Houston Astros Thursday night before 33,530 at Dodger Stadium.

Piazza, who has hit in nine consecutive games, has driven in nine runs in his last three games.

Piazza wasn’t the only Dodger to have a good night at the plate, as third baseman Mike Blowers and second baseman Delino DeShields, who have struggled this season, both homered.

Also, pitcher Hideo Nomo (3-2) won for the third time in three starts at Dodger Stadium this season, and closer Todd Worrell picked up his fifth save in five opportunities. Worrell, who ended last season with a streak of 12 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings, has extended that streak to 22 1/3 this season.

Blowers, who was hitting only .174 coming into the game, drilled a two-out eighth-inning homer into the left-field box seats off reliever Jeff Tabaka. It was his first home run in 22 games as a Dodger.

“It’s been a struggle for me the first three weeks of the season, but it seems like it always is, “ Blowers said. “For whatever reason, April has not been my favorite month.

“I have a lot of confidence in what I can do, but I’ve just been frustrated. But I think because I’ve been through this before it’s helped. I knew that it would be tough early with a new team and playing in a new league and a new park.”

DeShields, who was dropped to the sixth spot in the order, hit a two-run homer off starter Doug Drabek (0-2) in the third inning to break a 2-2 tie as the Dodgers swept the two-game series from Houston.

Piazza, who didn’t have a home run in his first 65 at-bats this season, has homered in his last two games. Piazza is batting .342 with three homers, three doubles, six runs and 11 RBIs in his nine-game hitting streak.

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda is relieved that Piazza, who has six extra-base hits in his last eight games, is finally producing.

“He’s the backbone and cornerstone of our offense,” Lasorda said. “We have to depend on this guy to give us the long ball and drive in runs. We’re expecting him to do it.

“I wasn’t worried about him. It’s what you do when you’re all finished, then you’ll see what it’s like. Power hitters are strange. They go in cycles, but once they start hitting them, boom. When it’s all over he’ll put the numbers up. He’s already done that. In three years, two of them abbreviated years, he’s put up 89 home runs. No catcher in the history of the majors ever did that. This guy is without a doubt the best player in the National League.”

Nomo picked up his first win in three starts against the Astros, giving up four runs and six hits, before he was replaced by Antonio Osuna with no outs in the eighth after surrendering a two-run homer to Jeff Bagwell.

The Astros had given Nomo fits. Nomo yielded four runs and seven hits in four innings in a 5-2 loss to the Astros on April 3 at Houston.

Nomo left after four innings when he split the nail on his right middle finger in a game at Houston last July.

“We’ve only faced him twice,” Astro Manager Terry Collins said. “Everybody gets carried away because the guy has had such instant success in this league. We’ve beaten him two times in two years, but it’s not like we face him every four days.”

Nomo, who struck out four and walked three with a balk, shut down the Astros after giving up a two-run, two-out homer to shortstop Orlando Miller in the second inning until Bagwell hit a line-drive homer over the center-field fence.

Winless in two road games this season, Nomo, who has a career road record of 5-6 with a 3.84 earned-run average, is 11-2 with a 1.74 ERA in his career at Dodger Stadium.

Drabek, who won the National League Cy Young Award in 1990 with the Pittsburgh Pirates after he won a league-high 22 games, has struggled this season, failing to win a game in his first four starts.

Drabek yielded five runs and eight hits in six innings before he was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning.

With the Astros leading, 2-0, the Dodgers scored five consecutive runs as Piazza drilled a two-run double with two outs in the third inning, DeShields hit a two-run homer in the fourth to break a 2-2 tie and Piazza singled in Chad Fonville, who had led off the fifth inning with a single to extend his hitting streak to four games. He’s hitting .667 (six for nine) with three runs and one RBI in the streak.