Prokopec Lifts Dodgers to Win

On the heels of his first loss of the season, rookie Luke Prokopec knew all about the pitcher he’d be facing Sunday at Dodger Stadium. And his prospects, to put it mildly, looked dim, what with Prokopec going head to head with four-time Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux.

“Everybody knows who Maddux is,” Prokopec said. “Everybody back in Australia knows who Maddux is.”

After the Australian native’s performance in the Dodgers’ 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves, Maddux, the Braves and the crowd of 37,152 know all about Prokopec.

“We were maybe trying to get this kid nervous,” said Atlanta right fielder Brian Jordan, who hit a solo home run off Prokopec. “He had a little more spunk than I thought. He threw strikes and got us to chase bad pitches.”

Prokopec (4-1) gave up only one run, Jordan’s second-inning solo shot, and three hits and struck out four while walking two. Dodger setup man Mike Fetters pitched a perfect eighth inning and closer Jeff Shaw worked a perfect ninth to get his National League-leading 13th save.

Maddux (3-4), meanwhile, was victimized by the three runs he surrendered in the first inning. He gave up seven hits in seven innings, striking out seven and walking three, two intentionally.

“We just didn’t hit,” Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox said. “That kid pitched a good game. We only hit one or two balls hard all day.

“Maddux didn’t have a lot of luck in the first inning.”

The Dodgers got to Maddux in the first by playing little ball.

After Mark Grudzielanek singled to left with one out, Gary Sheffield stroked a double into the left-center gap, putting runners at second and third.

Maddux then intentionally walked Shawn Green, to load the bases for Eric Karros and set up a potential inning-ending double play. But Karros went the other way with two strikes, singling to right and scoring Grudzielanek and Sheffield while advancing Green to third.

Adrian Beltre, playing his second game since coming off the disabled list Saturday, followed with a sacrifice fly to the center field warning track to score Green and give the Dodgers all they would need.

Prokopec did, however, run into a spot of trouble in the second.

After giving up Jordan’s lead-off homer to left field on a 2-and-2 fastball, the Braves had runners on first and second with one out, prompting a visit from pitching coach Jim Colborn.

“I had a feeling he was trying to protect a three-run lead,” Colborn said, “instead of being aggressive and going after the hitters.”

Prokopec settled down and the Braves had only one hit, B.J. Surhoff’s fourth-inning single, after the second inning.

“I got a little bit lazy and stopped hitting my spots and they’ve got some pretty good hitters over there,” Prokopec said. “I got a little soft, a little tentative.”

In taking two out of three from Atlanta, the Dodgers closed out their seven-game homestand with five wins and also won their NL-best 16th home game.

The Dodgers have also been in sole possession of first place for 17 consecutive days, their longest stretch since the 19 days from Aug. 24-Sept. 10, 1997.

With Maddux on the mound for Atlanta, Dodger Manager Jim Tracy had an inkling that the game would be another tight affair. So he penciled in veteran Chad Kreuter, 36, to catch Sunday to act as a stabilizing influence for Prokopec, despite the fact he also caught Saturday night..

“The kid was very good today, obviously,” Tracy said. “Offensively, it seems like we’ve scored just enough runs to win in one inning, no more than two. We know what kind of pitching staff we have.

“Luke, Mike and Jeff made it stand up.”

The Dodger pitching staff has compiled a league-low 3.71 earned-run average.

“Our pitching is what this team is built on,” Karros said.

“Pitching is the most important part of the game. Anybody that tells you that pitching is not the most important part of the game, they’re idiots.”