Dodgers Take Heart in Slowing Giants

The San Francisco Giants are in contention for the National League wild-card berth and the Dodgers aren’t.

The Giants are focused on overtaking the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets and the Dodgers are focused on ending their troubling season.

But one might have believed those roles were reversed Friday night.

Bobby Bonds, the Giants’ all-star outfielder, broke the National League record for reaching base in consecutive plate appearances, but his teammates didn’t perform as well in an 8-5 loss before 35,182 at Dodger Stadium.

For at least one night, the Giants brought out the best in their struggling Southern California neighbors.

“That’s what this rivalry is all about,” Dodger Manager Glenn Hoffman said. “It doesn’t matter who has the better record or which team is in a better position, these teams always compete whenever they face each other.

“We have some new guys on the team who haven’t experienced anything like this before, so they get to see what this is all about. They’re ahead of us and we have them at our place, so we’ll just see what happens.”

Dodger starter Darren Dreifort (8-12) gave up eight hits and four runs in seven innings. He walked four and struck out eight while throwing 131 pitches, 82 for strikes. It was the third time in four starts that the right-hander pitched at least seven innings.

Mark Grudzielanek and Charles Johnson hit home runs as the Dodgers moved to 71-70. The Giants scored a run in the ninth against rookie right-hander Sean Maloney, and had runners on first and second with two out and cleanup hitter Jeff Kent on deck.

Kent grounded out against closer Jeff Shaw, who nailed down his 40th save and preserved Dreifort’s second victory in as many starts. Shaw, who earned his 17th save with the Dodgers, notched his second successive save after suffering back-to-back losses.

The Dodgers matched their season-high winning streak with their third consecutive victory. The Dodgers, who have won three in a row seven times this season, and the Detroit Tigers are the only teams that haven’t won at least four in a row.

But holding to form, the Dodgers also received more bad news Friday. Center fielder Raul Mondesi was forced to leave in the fifth inning because of recurring back stiffness, the same ailment that forced him to sit out six games during a nine-game span in early August. He is listed as day to day, club officials said.

“We’re definitely not playing at full strength, and we haven’t been for a long time,” third baseman Bobby Bonilla said. “It’s tough, but all you can do is stay focused and keep doing what we’re doing.”

Bonds has been especially focused this week.

He broke a league record by reaching base in 15 consecutive plate appearances. Bonds, who went four for four with a walk, is nine for nine with six walks in his last four games.

His single to center in the ninth against Shaw broke the record Pedro Guerrero established with the Dodgers in July 1985. Bonds doubled down the left-field line against Dreifort in the seventh to tie the record.

Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox set the major league record by reaching base in 16 consecutive plate appearances in 1957.

But Bonds’ hitting didn’t help the Giants in the big picture.

The loss dropped San Francisco (76-65) three games behind the front-running Cubs, and two behind the Mets. The Dodgers insist that hurting the Giants’ postseason chances isn’t important to them.

But they wouldn’t mind causing the Giants some aggravation.

“We’re still just really focused on ourselves and what we have to do for the rest of the season,” outfielder Trenidad Hubbard said. “Sure, we know that the Giants are trying to get to the playoffs. But being a spoiler doesn’t help us at all.”