Dodgers Drop From the Top

The Dodger bullpen has been the team’s pride and joy this season.

But two of those relief pitchers squandered a two-run, eighth-inning lead in a 5-4 loss to the San Diego Padres Wednesday night before 42,423 at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers, who have lost four of their last five games, fell into a tie with San Diego for second place in the National League West, half a game behind the Colorado Rockies, who have won eight in a row.

Relievers Mark Guthrie and Antonio Osuna gave up three runs on three hits, two stolen bases, two walks, a hit batter and a scoring fly ball as the Padres batted around in the eighth inning.

Guthrie, who replaced starter Ismael Valdes at the start of the inning, gave up two runs and Osuna one as the Padres took the lead.

Ken Caminiti drove in Steve Finley with a one-out sacrifice fly to right, John Flaherty singled in Wally Joyner with the tying run, and, with the Padres playing hit-and-run, Jody Reed singled in Marc Newfield, who had been hit by a pitch, with the go-ahead run off Osuna (4-4).

“The bullpen has been great all year,” Dodger interim Manager Bill Russell said. “In Guthrie’s last outing he came in and struck out Caminiti for the last out, but tonight they were one out away from getting out of that eighth inning and they couldn’t get that last out.”

Valdes, who left with a two-run lead, gave up two runs on seven hits in seven innings.

Dodger third baseman Mike Blowers left the game because of a sprained left knee in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Blowers was hurt when he tried to score on a wild pitch with no outs. Blowers took off after Joey Hamilton’s pitch went off Flaherty’s glove with the bases loaded. But his spike caught in the dirt and Blowers collapsed to the ground in agony as he was tagged out by Caminiti.

Blowers, who had to be helped from the field, will be examined today by Dr. Frank Jobe and is also scheduled to undergo an MRI exam.

“I don’t know how serious it is,” Blowers said. “I’ve never had any problems with my knees before. It just buckled on me on the way home.”

Dodger trainer Charlie Strasser said Blowers will be out indefinitely.

“Tomorrow will give us a much better picture,” Strasser said. “Dr. Jobe looked at him tonight, but we won’t know how long he’ll be out for until tomorrow.”

Russell hopes the Dodgers don’t lose Blowers, who overcame a slow start to raise his batting average to .265.

“When I went out there he was in a lot of pain,” Russell said. “We’ll know more tomorrow, but it doesn’t look good.”

Todd Hollandsworth, who singled in his first two at-bats, set up the Dodgers’ first run when he singled Blowers to third base in the second, drove in the second run with fourth-inning single and scored their third run after stealing second.

Mike Piazza hit his 26th home run of the season off Hamilton in the fifth inning. Piazza drilled a 3-1 pitch over the center-field fence to give the Dodgers a two-run lead.

After Greg Gagne drove in Blowers with a broken-bat infield single in the second, the Padres took a 2-1 lead in the fourth as Flaherty drove in a run with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to left and Reed drove in Joyner with a grounder to short that forced a runner at second.