Bullpen Leaves Dodgers Blue

The Dodgers were one pitch from recording their first series sweep of the season and moving into a first-place tie with the San Francisco Giants when their bullpen stumbled.

Reliever Todd Worrell, who entered the game in the ninth inning to protect a 3-2 lead, gave up a two-out home run to Montreal third baseman Doug Strange and the Expos scored three runs in the 10th off Tom Candiotti to win, 6-3, before 34,809 at Dodger Stadium on Sunday.

The Expos’ winning rally in the 10th began when Candiotti hit F.P. Santangelo on his first pitch and Todd Zeile committed his team-high seventh error of the season, misplaying Mark Grudzielanek’s routine grounder.

Candiotti got Mike Lansing to ground into a fielder’s choice and Rondell White to fly out to center, but then gave up three consecutive run-scoring singles as the Dodgers, who had won nine of their last 11, had a three-game winning streak ended.

Worrell, whose brother Tim broke his hand when he punched a wall in frustration after he was pulled for a pinch hitter Friday night, was calm after the Dodgers lost for only the second time in 19 games after taking a lead into the ninth inning.

“I’m not going to beat myself over the head or run myself down thinking about it,” Worrell said. “I’m going to put this behind me and move on. Otherwise I think you end up taking it with you the next day and down the line and if could hurt your performance.

“I don’t have any reason to hang my head. If guys are going to beat me I’d rather have them beat me with my best pitch, which is my fastball.”

Strange belted a high and away pitch over the 395-foot sign in center field as Worrell failed to get his 11th save of the season.

“There’s not much you can say to Todd,” Dodger Manager Bill Russell said. “He’s going to save more games than he’s going to give up like that.”

The Dodgers had a chance to win it in the ninth after loading the bases on a single and back-to-back two-out walks off reliever Ugueth Urbina, but Omar Daal induced Mike Piazza, pinch-hitting for Todd Hollandsworth, to ground into a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded.

“Next to catching, pinch-hitting is the hardest thing to do in baseball,” Piazza said. “I took a couple good swings and got a good pitch on a curveball. If it was up a little I might have gotten it into the outfield.”

The Dodgers rallied again in the 10th when Eric Karros and Zeile drew two-out singles off Daal.

But Eddie Williams, who had a game-winning, pinch-hit RBI in the ninth inning of Saturday night’s 2-1 victory over the Expos, popped out on the first pitch from reliever Marc Valdes. Shortstop Grudzielanek struggled while making the play, falling down.

“It was the perfect pitch to hit,” Williams said. “I just missed it.”

Candiotti (3-2) gave up three runs on three hits and an error and hit a batter.

“I think the bullpen has been doing a good job,” Candiotti said. “That’s the way the game is, sometimes you get them and sometimes you don’t, I won’t lose any sleep over it.”

A knuckleballer, Candiotti seems out of place as a reliever.

“I really don’t have a choice, that’s the job that was given to me,” Candiotti said. “It’s unfamiliar pitching like that, especially with a knuckleball as your main pitch, but I’ve got to do the best I can.”

Dodger left fielder Billy Ashley, who had three hits in 19 at-bats (.158) with a double, a home run, a run and two RBIs in his first nine games as a starter, would have been the hero if not for Worrell.

With the score tied, 2-2, Ashley singled in Karros with two outs in the sixth off starter Carlos Perez for his fifth RBI in 17 games.

Dodger pitcher Hideo Nomo (4-2) had seven strikeouts and gave up two runs (one earned) and six hits in seven innings.

Angels Blown Away by Brewers: The Brewers struck for five runs in the first two innings on the way to a 5-2 victory and a series sweep of the Angels at Milwaukee. The loss was the Angels’ fifth in a row. C5