BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : Incaviglia Ties a Phillie Record

Pete Incaviglia, exiled to Japan a year ago, couldn’t find anyone interested in him this winter. It took coaxing, cajoling and persuasion merely to get the Philadelphia Phillies to give him a non-guaranteed, $300,000 minor-league contract.

Even when he made the Phillies in spring training, he was only going to be a reserve, watching Darren Daulton play left field.

Everything changed the first week of the season when Daulton went on the disabled list and said his career could be over. On May 14, Incaviglia became the team’s everyday cleanup hitter.

He hit two home runs and drove in six runs Tuesday against the Dodgers, tying a Phillie record for most RBIs at Veterans Stadium.

“I came here and told [Manager] Jim [Fregosi] that I would do whatever he needed me to do--come off the bench to help the team,” Incaviglia said. “I was hoping to get an opportunity to play every day, but I really didn’t think it would happen. Darren was going to be in left field. I didn’t foresee getting a lot of playing time.”

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Dodger outfielder Milt Thompson spent his off-day getting married to Rhonda Bell in New Jersey in front of about 120 friends and family, including several teammates.

So just how did they spend their first day together after the wedding?

Well, Thompson was at Veterans Stadium by 2 p.m. for early batting practice, and his wife sat in 56-degree temperatures watching the game.

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Dodger outfielder Billy Ashley was perturbed while reading the morning newspaper Tuesday and discovering that not only had left-handed starter Sid Fernandez been placed on the disabled list, but the Angels had traded reliever Lee Smith to the Cincinnati Reds for left-handed reliever Chuck McElroy.

“Hey, there aren’t enough lefties in the league to begin with,” said Ashley, who plays only against left-handers, “and now we lose two more. Oh, man.”

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Dodger reliever Jim Bruske, who was optioned May 14 to triple-A Albuquerque, suffered a strained lower back and will be sidelined for a week. . . . Tonight, Hideo Nomo returns to the scene of his worst outing as a Dodger. Nomo yielded six hits and seven runs (six earned) in only three innings Aug. 25, 1995, in the Phillies’ 17-4 victory.