Dreifort Continues His Big Turnaround

The Dodgers finally feel good about life on the road, and it only took a historic trade to change their outlook.

And their performance.

Pitcher Darren Dreifort continued his impressive turnaround, and the Dodgers completed their first winning road trip of the season Wednesday night with a 3-1 victory over the Houston Astros.

Dreifort pitched six effective innings, and Todd Hollandsworth drove in two runs as the Dodgers won for the second time in the three-game series before 17,190 at the Astrodome.

Mark Guthrie and Antonio Osuna combined to pitch 1 2/3 scoreless innings in relief, and closer Scott Radinsky struck out three in 1 1/3 innings to earn his 10th save and second in three days. The Dodgers finished 5-4 on their 10-day road trip, moving back to .500--at 26-26--for the eleventh time this season.

Manager Bill Russell said something good began on the first trip after The Trade--as if one couldn’t tell.

“The four guys we got [from the Florida Marlins] have really changed the attitude on this ballclub, and everyone can see it,” said Russell, whose team is 14-19 on the road.

“You see the lineup we’re putting out there every day, the different options we have, and that helps build confidence and character. We’re winning some close games now, and everybody is loose and feeling good. Everybody is picking up on that feeling.”

Dreifort (3-4) is 3-0 in his last three starts since the Dodgers acquired Charles Johnson, his battery mate on the 1992 U.S. Olympic team. Dreifort gave up only five hits and one run Wednesday, lowering his earned-run average to 1.24 during that span.

And the Astros’ only run scored on a wild pitch.

With the Dodgers leading, 2-0, Brad Ausmus led off the sixth with a single. He went to second on a one-out single by Craig Biggio, and took third when Derek Bell flied out to center.

On an 0-and-2 count against Bill Spiers, Dreifort mistakenly thought Johnson called for a pitchout.

Johnson wanted Dreifort to throw a slider, and the confusion led to the pitch that allowed Ausmus to score. Biggio went to second and took third on Dreifort’s fielding error when he dropped Johnson’s throw at the plate.

“That was all my fault,” said Dreifort, who was 0-4 with a 4.61 ERA before the deal.

“Instead of stepping off the mound like I should have, I wound up costing us a run. And we still should have had Ausmus at the plate, but I just dropped the ball.”

But he redeemed himself by striking out Spiers to end the inning.

“That showed me a lot of composure,” pitching coach Glenn Gregson said. “He had to make a long run to the plate after the wild pitch, and to come back and strike out Spiers was impressive.”

Dreifort was removed after Richard Hidalgo walked to lead off the seventh. Guthrie, Osuna and Radinsky finished off the Astros, with Radinsky striking out Sean Berry looking to end the game.

The Dodgers staked Dreifort to a 2-0 lead on run-scoring ground outs by Hollandsworth in the second and fourth. He also increased his season-high hitting streak to seven games with a two-out double in the sixth.

Hollandsworth is batting .355 with six RBIs during that span, and he has reestablished himself as the everyday left fielder.

“Holly is hitting, and that’s what we need from him,” said center fielder Raul Mondesi, who doubled and singled.

“This team can score a lot of runs. We’ve got a good team now, and we had a good road trip. We’re staying together, and that’s what we need to do.”