Dodgers Have the Backup to Pull Out a 3-2 Victory

The way Davey Johnson sees it, having two starters go on the disabled list and a third sit out with a sore hamstring is not the end of the world.

Especially not with the off-season retooling the Dodgers did to their bench, and two of the replacements winning the game in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Even though the Dodgers were missing their regular center fielder, shortstop and third baseman, they had enough to defeat the Houston Astros, 3-2, in front of 45,428 at Dodger Stadium Friday night in a game in which the loudest cheers were reserved for the winning run and those times when the Diamondvision gave updated Laker scores and highlights.

Todd Hollandsworth, starting in center for the injured Devon White, had a broken bat single up the middle to score Alex Cora, who was recalled earlier in the day from triple-A Albuquerque because of an injury to Kevin Elster.

Despite a stellar outing from Kevin Brown, who gave up a run on three hits while striking out five and walking one in eight innings, the Dodger starter did not get a decision.

Closer Jeff Shaw blew the save after giving up a two-out home run to Lance Berkman, his first of the year, to tie it at 2-2 in the ninth. Still, Shaw (2-1) got the win.

Houston reliever Doug Henry (0-2)took the loss.

“We’re set up to where we can handle injuries, whereas a year ago it would have been tough,” Johnson said.

“It’s a tough loss with one, much less two,” Johnson said of White and Elster going on the disabled list earlier in the day. Third baseman Adrian Beltre also sat out with a hamstring injury. “But the beauty of where we are this year as compared to last year is that I don’t have to be short. And it’s not as if somebody wasn’t playing well in Albuquerque.

“I mean it’s a tremendous loss, and we’ll miss them, but it could have been a heck of a lot worse if we were in the same shape we were last year.”

Hollandsworth, who will play much more in center field and bat leadoff because of White’s rotator-cuff injury, doubled to the left-center field gap with one out in the third inning.

After Mark Grudzielanek grounded out to third, Gary Sheffield laced a line drive down the left-field line that bounced off the new synthetic warning track and into the stands for a ground-rule double, scoring Hollandsworth.

Houston evened the score in the fourth.

With one out, Jeff Bagwell crushed a 2-1 Brown pitch to dead center for a solo home run. It was only the second hit Brown allowed. .

The Dodgers reclaimed the lead in the fourth.

Switch-hitting Todd Hundley, batting from the left-side, led off with a towering shot to left-center for a solo homer on a 2-0 pitch from starter Shane Reynolds.

Brown, meanwhile, continued to cruise, retiring the Astros in order in the fifth and sixth. In fact, he retired the Astros on four pitches in the sixth.

But in the seventh, Brown seemed to tire a bit.

After giving up a leadoff single to Bagwell, Berkman reached on Cora’s error.

Brown struck out Daryle Ward and got Bill Spiers to fly out to deep center but walked Tony Eusebio on four pitches to load the bases.

Then, with Tim Bogar batting, Brown’s pitch got away from Hundley and Bagwell raced home.

The ball bounced hard off the base of the newly-installed section behind home plate, allowing Hundley to flip the ball quickly to Brown covering. Home plate umpire Paul Emmel called Bagwell out to end the Houston threat.

“The play at home plate was a huge boost,” Brown said. “It wasn’t a play you think about, just instinct.”

After Berkman tied the score with his home run, Cora led off the Dodger ninth with a ground-rule double to right-center.

Pinch-hitter F.P. Santangelo then put down a bunt to advance Cora to third. Hollandsworth followed with his broken-bat single up the middle off Jay Powell, who had relieved Henry, and scored Cora for the win.

“It’s just one [at-bat],” Cora said. “I was 0-3 at that point and I made an error. But that was in the past.”

So, it seems, is his bad spring training at Vero Beach that resulted in his being assigned to Albuquerque.

Said Cora, who was leading the Pacific Coast League in hitting with a .394 average before his recall: “When the season started, I sat down and had a conversation with myself, saying, ‘Well, if you keep playing the way you’ve been playing in spring training and keep thinking the same way with no confidence, you’re going to be here in Albuquerque all year. And if you want to be a big league player, you better get your head straight and relax.’ ”