Dodger Streak Struck Down

You knew it was coming.

Ken Griffey Jr., 0 for 8 in this series with three strikeouts and hearing the derisive chants from the right-field pavilion, broke out of his Chavez Ravine funk with one majestic swing Tuesday night.

His opposite-field solo home run in the sixth inning gave the Cincinnati Reds some insurance in their 3-1 victory over the Dodgers in front of 39,411 at Dodger Stadium in a game where there were more wayward beach balls to hit the field, five, than Dodger hits, three.

Griffey, whose average had dropped to .226, took Dodger starter Eric Gagne deep on a first-pitch offering for his 14th home run of the season and was his usual nonchalant self in describing his shot.

“I was just trying to see it and hit it,” he said. “Hit it somewhere, that’s it.”

The loss ended a Dodger season-high six-game winning streak.

Gagne, a rookie searching for his first win of the year and second of his career, fell to 0-3. He went six innings and gave up three runs on five hits, including two home runs, while walking three and striking out four. He threw 96 pitches, 57 for strikes.

“Gagne threw the ball well,” Dodger Manager Davey Johnson said. “He hadn’t pitched in 10 days and he hadn’t started in two weeks so I didn’t want to push him.”

Cincinnati starter Osvaldo Perez, who missed the 1998 season and spent last year in the minors after reconstructive elbow surgery on his right [throwing] arm, earned his first win of the season to improve to 1-0 after going seven-plus innings and giving up one run on three hits. He had four strikeouts and walked two in his 95 pitches, 66 for strikes. It was his first win since April 27, 1997, when, as a member of the San Francisco Giants, he beat the Houston Astros.

“We didn’t hit too many balls on the nose,” Johnson said. “You’ve got to tip your cap to him.”

Eric Karros agreed, somewhat.

“[Fernandez] threw the ball well,” said Karros, who went one for three with a single. “You can’t score 10 runs every night.”

The Dodgers scored in their first at-bat.

After loading the bases with no out, Karros got his team-leading 39th run batted in with a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Todd Hollandsworth, who had singled up the middle to lead off the inning.

The Reds took the lead in the third.

Benito Santiago led off with a double to the gap in left-center and moved to third on Fernandez’s sacrifice bunt.

Santiago scored on Pokey Reese’s groundout to short before Barry Larkin took Gagne into the Dodger bullpen in left field for a solo home run on a 1-0 off-speed pitch. It was the third homer of the season for Larkin, who left the game with a sore left hand in the seventh.

In the fourth inning, Dodger catcher Todd Hundley threw out his fifth runner of the season in 31 attempts when he nailed the lumbering Dante Bichette trying to steal second base. But Hundley would go 0 for 4 with four strikeouts at the plate.

After Griffey hit his homer to left-center in the sixth, Cincinnati threatened to break it open in the seventh off reliever Antonio Osuna.

With two out and Fernandez on first after his first hit since Sept. 11, 1996, Larkin doubled past a diving Hollandsworth in left-center, putting runners at second and third.

Osuna intentionally walked Griffey to load the bases for cleanup hitter Dmitri Young. He lined out hard to left to end the inning.

The Dodgers threatened in the eighth.

After Fernandez walked pinch-hitter F.P. Santangelo, who was batting .111, to lead off the inning, reliever Scott Williamson replaced Fernandez.

Williamson, who pitched two innings of Monday night’s 14-inning game, walked Hollandsworth before Mark Grudzielanek bounced into a double play.

Williamson then walked the third Dodger of the inning, Shawn Green. But Karros chased a pitch in the dirt to strike out.

Danny Graves struck out the side in the ninth.

The Dodgers were playing for the first time this season without left fielder and leading home run hitter Gary Sheffield, who sprained a right ankle trying to break up a double play Monday.

Even with the loss, the Dodgers, at 25-18, are seven games over .500. And while they reached five games over the mark in 1998 and 1999, the Dodgers have not been six over since finishing the 1997 season at 88-74.

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SHEFFIELD HURTING

Sprained ankle puts left fielder on the bench at least until Friday. Page 7

WILLIAMS RETURNS

Arizona third baseman, who broke his foot in spring training, gets two hits. Page 7