Dodgers Are Wild in Loss

An appearance by Carlos Perez was the last thing the Dodgers were looking for Wednesday night.

Perez was merely supposed to back up starter Orel Hershiser, who was suffering from a nagging groin strain, and would only come in early, if at all. Hershiser was going to throw for as long as he was effective and/or could endure his pain.

Manager Davey Johnson would have preferred his starter to last until the middle innings, meaning the Dodgers were in a winnable game, before turning it over to his middle relief corps.

But there was the enigmatic Perez, taking over for Hershiser in the second inning of the Dodgers’ 10-3 loss to the Houston Astros in front of 29,717 at Dodger Stadium.

Johnson said that Hershiser was not properly warmed up because of a timing error by the coaching staff--the Dodgers thought the game started at 7:10 p.m. and it was a 7:05 start.

“I just stunk,” Hershiser said. “I have no excuses. I should be able to get warm.

“It was a shame I had to put our team through that,” he added. “I felt fine, I just was not good.”

Hershiser struggled with his control from the outset.

The Astros sent 10 batters to the plate in their half of the first inning, which lasted nearly 25 minutes, and scored four times.

Houston sent nine more batters up in the second inning, which Hershiser would not survive, and scored another four runs.

By the time Hershiser was removed by Johnson, he had tied a modern-day National League record by hitting four batters, a feat now accomplished eight times since 1900.

Ironically, the last time a pitcher plugged four hitters in a game involved the Dodgers and Houston--knuckleballer Tom Candiotti hit four Astros on Sept. 13, 1997.

Hershiser, only five days removed from a solid performance in the 8-1 home-opening win Friday, took the loss and fell to 1-1. He was charged with seven earned runs and four hits in 1 1/3 innings. He also walked two and hit, in order, Richard Hidalgo, Shane Reynolds, Jeff Bagwell and Hidalgo again.

Hidalgo would be hit a third time, by reliever Matt Herges, in the seventh inning, tying a major league record that had been set 19 times previously, most recently by the Detroit Tigers’ Damion Easley on May 31, 1999.

The five hit Astro batters also tied an NL team record, equaling the five Atlanta Braves who were tagged by the Cincinnati Reds on July 2, 1969.

Houston starter Shane Reynolds, however, was a model of consistency, picking up his third win while giving up one run and four hits, striking out three and walking two in six innings.

Johnson replaced Hershiserwith Perez after Hidalgo was hit the second time.

Perez, who was skipped over for his last scheduled start because of Monday’s rainout, was decent in relief. He was charged with a run in 3 2/3 innings after giving up five hits and striking out one.

He was jeered when he emerged from the bullpen but elicited cheers when he doubled down the right-field line in his lone plate appearance in the second inning.

Johnson had expressed concern with his left-handed relievers before the game, noting that Onan Masaoka was demoted to triple-A Albuquerque last week.

“The left side of the ‘pen has been nonexistent,” Johnson said. “That’s not to say that we don’t have guys that can get it done.

“I don’t have a comfort level there yet.”

Especially not with another brief outing by left-hander Jeff Williams.

Williams worked a scoreless sixth but was touched for two runs, one unearned, in the seventh. He gave up three hits and walked two in 1 1/3 innings.

Gary Sheffield, though, provided a Dodger highlight in the sixth inning.

The left fielder stroked a 3-and-2 Reynolds pitch to the bleachers in left-center for his sixth home run of the year, a solo shot.

And though Sheffield’s season-long hitting streak ended Tuesday night--he was hit by a pitch in that game--he has reached base safely in all 14 games thus far.

Dodger backup catcher Chad Kreuter added another solo homer in the ninth.

*

RANDY HARVEY

The difference between the first and last game of this homestand was more than day-night. Page 2