That’s the Way the Ball Bounces for Dodgers

The balls bounced in favor of the Pirates on Monday afternoon during their 5-4, come-from-behind victory over the Dodgers.

Of course, the Dodgers permitted balls to bounce.

Their cautious play on the artificial surface at Three Rivers Stadium contributed to the series-opening loss before a Memorial Day crowd of 15,924. The Pirates scored the go-ahead run on back-to-back, two-out hits in the eighth against rookie reliever Jamie Arnold (2-1) that dropped in front of left fielder Gary Sheffield and center fielder Devon White, respectively.

Sheffield and White were playing deep on the synthetic surface while trying to keep the balls in front of them.

The Pirates (26-24) won their fourth in a row. Reliever Marc Wilkins (1-0) won despite giving up the go-ahead run in the eighth.

Closer Mike Williams recorded his 10th save by pitching a scoreless ninth.

Eric Karros singled to open the ninth but was stranded at first. Adrian Beltre and Mark Grudzielanek struck out swinging and pinch-hitter Dave Hansen grounded out to end the game.

Arnold walked Kevin Young with one out in the eighth. Jason Kendall then hit a ball to left that dropped in front of Sheffield.

Young, running on the pitch, scored from first and Kendall advanced to third by the time Sheffield got the ball back into the infield.

The official scorer ruled that Kendall doubled and took third on the throw. Kendall scored on Warren Morris’ single to center that White fielded on a hop, giving the Pirates the 5-4 lead.

It appeared both balls could have been caught. Sheffield and White disagreed.

“When you play on turf you have to make decisions you don’t normally have to make on grass,” Sheffield said. “You tell yourself on balls not hit hard, ‘Should I go for it on the hop or should I dive on the hard turf? Or do you play conservative and hope that the pitcher bails you out?’

“I’ve never dove on the outfield [on artificial turf]. I did when I played the infield but not in the outfield. You don’t want to risk injury.”

White said outfielders are simply forced to make adjustments when playing on that surface.

“It shouldn’t [make a difference] but you have to play the bounces,” said the seven-time Gold Glove Award winner. “But it’s part of the game and you can’t complain about it. They [the Pirates] have to play on it too.”

The Dodgers wasted a solid effort by starter Chan Ho Park, who squandered a 3-1 lead but battled for six innings on a hot day. The Dodgers regained the lead on a run-scoring single by Raul Mondesi in the top of the eighth. Mondesi drove in Sheffield, who doubled with one out, but the Dodgers failed to make the plays in the bottom of the inning.

Todd Hundley hit his sixth home run but the two-run, fourth-inning blast was overshadowed by all that went wrong for the Dodgers (26-24).

They have lost the first game of each series on their nine-game, 10-day trip and are 4-3 with two games remaining.

The temperature at game time was 85 degrees and it was considerably hotter on the field. Park labored, throwing only 62 strikes in 104 pitches.

Park was removed for a pinch-hitter after giving up five hits and three runs.

Arnold, the Dodgers’ fourth pitcher, entered in the eighth with a 4-3 lead.

White’s first error of the season in the sixth contributed to the Pirates’ two-run inning in which they tied the score, 3-3.

Abraham Nunez opened the inning by hitting for Pirate starter Jose Silva, who also gave up three runs in six innings.

Nunez popped up a bunt that went over Beltre’s head for a double down the left-field line. He scored on a single to center by Al Martin, cutting the lead to 3-2, and Martin wound up on third when the ball bounced under White’s glove and rolled behind him.

White was charged with a two-base error and Martin scored the tying run on a ground-rule double to right by Ed Sprague. White offered no excuses.

“As far as that ball bouncing, yeah, I misjudged that ball and it got under my glove,” said the Dodger leadoff batter, who went hitless in three at-bats and bounced into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the seventh.