Hundley Uses Bat and Arm to Slam the Door on Astros

Todd Hundley has heard all the talk, that he was broken down, that his monster 1996 season was a fluke, that he came back from elbow problems too soon last year and hurt the Dodger pitching staff.

He has quietly gone about his business as a sort of forgotten man in the Dodgers’ potent lineup.

Until Saturday.

The Dodger catcher’s third-inning grand slam keyed the 9-6 victory over the Houston Astros in front of 44,345 at Dodger Stadium.

“Hitting-wise, I feel good,” said Hundley, who set a single-season major league record for catchers with 41 home runs with the New York Mets in 1996. “I’m real confident right now. It’s keeping the consistency in the day-in, day-out grind. I feel strong, my body feels great.”

Hundley also threw out a baserunner, his first of the season, though he did have two passed balls.

“We’ve got an explosive lineup,” Manager Davey Johnson said. “We’ve got guys that can pick up the slack and it showed tonight.”

With the win, the Dodgers have won six of eight on their current home stand, despite being out-hit, 12-7, by the Astros.

Five of the Dodgers’ seven hits were of the extra-base variety. In fact, the only Dodger single through seven innings was by Dodger starter Darren Dreifort (2-1), who found a hole on the left side in the fourth.

Dreifort gave up five runs (four earned) on nine hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked three while striking out two in his 99 pitches, 59 of which were strikes.

Astro starter Octavio Dotel fell to 1-3 with the loss, giving up eight runs on five hits while walking four in 4 1/3 innings.

Trailing, 1-0, after Ken Caminiti’s second-inning homer, the Dodgers erupted for six runs on two hits in the third, when they sent nine batters to the plate.

With one out, Alex Cora on second and Todd Hollandsworth on first, courtesy of walks, Mark Grudzielanek hit a towering shot to right-center. Astro center fielder Roger Cedeno overran the ball as it came down on the new synthetic warning track and bounced and into the pavilion seats for a ground-rule double, scoring Cora.

Gary Sheffield followed with a run-scoring groundout to bring home Hollandsworth before Dotel hit Shawn Green and walked Eric Karros to load the bases.

The switch-hitting Hundley, batting from the left side, then took Dotel into the field-box seats down the right-field line for the sixth grand slam of his career and sixth homer of the season.

And if that wasn’t enough, Hundley then threw out his first would-be base stealer of the season in the fourth.

After Jeff Bagwell led the inning off with a ground-rule double off the warning track, he tried to steal third.

Hundley, who was 0 for 19 in thwarting stolen-base attempts, nailed his first of the season when he cut down Bagwell at third, as Jose Vizcaino made a fine tag.

Houston cut the Dodger lead to 6-3 in the fifth.

After Bill Spiers led things off with a double and scored two batters later on a Craig Biggio groundout, the Astros put together three consecutive two-out singles--by Cedeno, Bagwell and Caminiti--to score Cedeno.

No matter, the Dodgers answered with two of their own in the bottom of the fifth.

After Green drew a one-out walk, Karros took Dotel deep to left-center on a 1-0 pitch for a two-run homer, his seventh home run of the season, to chase Dotel.

Dreifort wouldn’t last much longer.

After giving up a leadoff single to Lance Berkman, Dreifort walked Spiers before a passed ball moved the runners to third and second.

A couple of groundouts scored the two before Dreifort walked Biggio, prompting Johnson to call his bullpen and make a move.

Rookie reliever Matt Herges added to his scoreless streak when he got Cedeno to fly out to center. He also pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth and has not given up a run in 12 appearances covering 19 1/3 innings.

Dave Hansen tripled off the top of the left-field wall to lead off the sixth. He scored two batters later on Grudzielanek’s one-out sacrifice fly to left.