Ashley Comes Off Disabled List, Plays

Outfielder Billy Ashley, placed on the 15-day disabled list on April 20 with a strained right hamstring, was activated before the game. The Dodgers optioned infielder Juan Castro to Albuquerque.

Ashley, who started in left field in place of Todd Hollandsworth, who was batting .395 in his last 15 games with two home runs, three doubles and four RBIs, had a one-out double in the fourth inning.

“We’re like the Marine Corps, we put them right into the action,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “But Hollandsworth is swinging the bat extremely well. I can’t keep him out of the lineup.”

Ashley, who has been plagued by injuries throughout his pro career, missed two games with a strained stomach muscle after being sent to Albuquerque on a rehab assignment.

“It was one of those injuries that only seems to happens to Billy Ashley,” he said. “It was a Billy Ashley injury.”

*

Dodger first baseman Eric Karros, who broke out of an 0-for-27 slump by going two for four Monday night, said before the game that he hasn’t altered his stance or made any minor adjustments to his form.

“It’s not anything that I don’t feel I’m going to come out of,” Karros said. “You’ve just got to keep your head above water and stay positive and keep doing the job. The worst thing you can do if you struggle a little bit is to start changing things. Everybody struggles.”

*

Pitcher Scott Radinsky, who suffered an elbow injury in last Friday’s game at St. Louis, was examined by Dr. Frank Jobe and an MRI revealed that he has a strained muscle in his left elbow. . . . Lela Alston, widow of longtime Dodger Manager Walter Alston, died Monday at her home in Oxford, Ohio. She was 84. . . . Dodger pitcher Ramon Martinez, sidelined since April 6 with a groin injury, will make his first start since then tonight against the Expos.