Cardinals Take Perez Deep and Dodgers Can’t Dig Out

Frustrated after being dominated by Dodger pitchers, the St. Louis Cardinals were eager to face Carlos Perez.

He didn’t disappoint.

The soft-tossing left-hander provided what the Cardinals needed in a wild 12-10 victory Sunday afternoon in which each club hit four home runs and used five pitchers.

The Cardinals pounded Perez early and often in his poor 1 2/3-inning outing--hitting three of their four homers while he was on the mound. They took a 7-0 lead after two innings and withstood the Dodgers’ charge while winning the final game of the series and ending a three-game losing streak.

Mark McGwire provided another show for the crowd of 45,151 at Busch Stadium. He hit two homers--Nos. 13 and 14--against Perez.

The second was a 487-foot blast to left field that landed behind the first section of seats in the upper deck. McGwire tied Mickey Mantle for eighth place on the all-time list with 536.

“It means I’ve been around for a while, and been pretty consistent,” McGwire said. “I’ve got quite a few more years to go, so hopefully I’ll climb the ladder. I’m passing some Hall of Famers, but I’ve got a lot left in me.”

The Cardinals had eight of their 17 hits against Perez after Darren Dreifort and Chan Ho Park overwhelmed them in the first two games. St. Louis had only five hits in 54 at-bats in those losses.

Fortunately for the Dodgers, the Cardinal pitchers weren’t much better than Perez (3-2) on Sunday.

St. Louis starter Pat Hentgen, who had lost his four previous starts, was chased in the fifth after the Dodgers cut the lead to 9-6. Eric Karros led the rally with his second multihomer game of the season--Nos. 10 and 11--and five runs batted in. Gary Sheffield hit his team-leading 12th homer and Todd Hundley his 10th to pace the Dodgers’ 11-hit attack.

The Cardinals’ lead was down to 10-8 in the sixth inning when Mark Grudzielanek committed an error. St. Louis scored twice to take a four-run lead.

Heathcliff Slocumb (1-2) pitched poorly in relief but earned the victory. Closer Dave Veres worked a perfect ninth for his seventh save.

Perez was at his worst, and that was too much for the Dodgers to overcome.

“It was kind of obvious Carlos didn’t have too much,” Manager Davey Johnson said. “You could tell by how the ball was being hit.”

From the start.

The outing was Perez’s shortest since being chased after only one-third of an inning against the Florida Marlins in 1997. In addition to three homers, Perez also gave up three doubles.

Overall, he gave up seven runs, increasing his earned-run average from 4.58 to 4.93. Perez had been effective in his last four starts, slowly regaining the Dodgers’ confidence after his abysmal 1999 season.

He took a big step backward Sunday.

“Everything was either a homer, double or RBI single,” catcher Hundley said. “He couldn’t get ahead [in the count] with his fastball, and they were just sitting on his changeup and splitter.

“He couldn’t [throw strikes] and he couldn’t change speeds. Everything he threw up there, they did damage. It was just tough.”

The damage started quickly.

McGwire hit a two-run homer in the first as the Cardinals took a 4-0 lead. Jim Edmonds hit a two-run shot in the second--his 12th homer--and McGwire followed with his mammoth solo shot to left.

That ended Perez’s brief work.

“It’s just tough when you don’t have your stuff, and that happened today,” Perez said. “I could see in the bullpen I didn’t have too much stuff to throw in the game.

“Sometimes you come into the game and you don’t feel 100%. That’s when they take opportunities against you.”

Pitching coach Claude Osteen noticed other problems.

“He didn’t make any good pitches, and he wasn’t as aggressive as he has been,” Osteen said. “He has to set hitters up about as good as you can to be successful, and he just didn’t have a good day.”

McGwire noticed too.

“He can be dangerous when his changeup dives in front of the plate, but today his fastball and changeup were up,” said McGwire, second on the all-time list with 63 multihomer games. “It was just one of those days for him.”

Perez hopes to avoid many more.

“When this happens, all you have to do is work in the bullpen and prepare for your next start,” he said. “Once in a while, you just don’t feel 100%.”

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Strong Ties

Mark McGwire moved into a tie for eighth place on all-time home run list:

1. Hank Aaron: 755

2. Babe Ruth: 714

3. Willie Mays: 660

4. Frank Robinson: 586

5. Harmon Killebrew: 573

6. Reggie Jackson: 563

7. Mike Schmidt: 548

8t Mickey Mantle: 536

8t Mark McGwire: 536

10. Jimmie Foxx: 534