Dodgers Get Wild Start and Finish

After being told on getaway day at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Fla., that Eric Gagne would be the Dodgers’ No. 5 starter and that he would not be needed, Ramon Martinez retreated to his native Dominican Republic to gather himself.

He waited by the phone and stayed in shape by working out at Campo Las Palmas, the Dodgers’ state-of-the-art baseball academy on the island that reared Martinez in the late 1980s.

Tuesday night, Martinez returned to Dodger Stadium as a Pittsburgh Pirate to face his old team and Gagne. And though neither earned a decision in the Dodgers’ 6-5 win over the Pirates in front of 22,495, both played major roles.

“There’s been a lot of things that have happened since the 15th of February,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said in an understatement. “But probably the most difficult . . . was calling [Martinez] in and telling him that he wasn’t going to be a part of our plans.

“I told him, ‘I’ll be rooting and praying for you to land on your feet.’ You won’t find a better human being than Ramon. You just won’t.”

It was Mark Grudzielanek, moved from the No. 2 spot to the sixth spot in the lineup, who made the difference Wednesday.

Grudzielanek tripled into the right-center gap to lead off the ninth and jammed his right thumb into the third-base bag on his head-first slide. He stayed in the game, however, and, three pitches later, scored the winning run on a Josias Manzanillo wild pitch with Angel Pena at the plate.

The Dodger victory ended the Pirates’ five-game winning streak at Dodger Stadium, despite the Dodgers being outhit, 10-5, and getting only one hit, Grudzielanek’s triple, after the third inning.

Terry Adams (1-1) picked up the win in two innings of scoreless relief, the first victory for a Dodger reliever this year. Manzanillo (0-1) took the loss.

Gagne had a career-high nine strikeouts in his five innings but threw 105 pitches, 65 for strikes. He gave up five runs on nine hits while walking two batters and hitting two.

The nine strikeouts are a season-high by a Dodger pitcher.

Martinez, who signed a free-agent contract with the Pirates on April 11, gave up four hits, but he allowed five runs in the third inning, the big blow a three-run home run by Shawn Green. In five innings, Martinez walked five and struck out three.

“I was trying too hard the first couple of innings,” he said, “and I got in trouble in the third inning. After that it went smooth.”

Gagne was lucky to get out of the first inning having surrendered only one run after giving up four hits.

A pair of outfield assists from Gary Sheffield limited the Pirates. It was the first time Sheffield had two outfield assists in a game since July 3, 1998 at San Francisco.

Aramis Ramirez’s one-out single scored Jason Kendall, who had walked to lead off the game. But on the same play, Sheffield cut down Derek Bell trying to score with a one-hop throw from left for the inning’s second out.

Kevin Young then singled to left and Pittsburgh third-base coach Trent Jewett waved John Vander Wal home. Sheffield gunned Vander Wal out as well.

“He made two great plays, two runs he cut off,” Martinez said. “We only had one bad inning. After that, we kept it in control.”

The Pirates took a 3-0 lead in the third.

With two out, Vander Wal doubled into the right-field corner before Brian Giles singled him home.

Ramirez then burned Sheffield with a ground-rule double that bounced off the warning track and over the left-field wall, scoring Giles.

The Dodgers took the lead in their half of the third with a nine-batter, five-run inning.

Alex Cora tripled off the right-center wall on the first pitch he saw and scored on a Martinez wild pitch.

Tom Goodwin drew a base on balls, the third time the leadoff hitter has walked this year, and scored on Hiram Bocachica’s double into the left-field corner.

Sheffield then drew a walk, and Green homered into the right-field bullpen, his sixth homer of the year.

The Pirates tied it in the fifth on Young’s two-run homer.