Green Pulls a Power Play

Somebody had to step up offensively for the Dodgers Friday night.

With Eric Karros on the disabled list and Gary Sheffield unavailable, that someone figured to be Shawn Green. Not exactly the brightest of prospects with Green’s output of late in the second season of his six-year, $84-million contract inconsistent at best.

But after striking out and flying out in his first two at-bats, Green launched a two-run home run that helped the Dodgers to a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros in front of 30,141 at Dodger Stadium.

“It felt good today,” said Green, who was one for 4. “Even the outs felt good.

“Everyone has to step up and carry some of the load. With two of our top hitters out of the lineup, it’s tougher to score runs.”

Dodger starter Chan Ho Park (5-4) made it stand up.

Park picked up the win after going 7 2/3 innings and giving up one run on five hits. He struck out a season high-tying 10 batters, equaling the total he had against the Philadelphia Phillies on April 29, and walked two while hitting a batter in his 101 pitches, 64 strikes.

Closer Jeff Shaw pitched a scoreless ninth for his National League-leading 15th save. It was also Shaw’s 100th save as a Dodger, tying him with Ron Perranoski for third on the Dodger all-time list.

“We played a complete baseball game tonight,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said. “We got great pitching from our starting pitcher, the bullpen did the job and we did what we had to do offensively to win the game.

“Normally, when we do things right on the mound, we win.”

Park, who battled a blister on his right middle finger throughout the night, improved his home record to 5-1 with a 1.99 earned-run average in six starts.

“Because of the blister I used a lot of change-ups instead of curveballs,” Park said. “That fooled the hitters.”

The Dodgers won their 17th home game, second most in the majors, by beating the Astros, who entered the game with the best road record in the NL at 14-7.

“The Ravine is our house,” Tracy said.

Plus, the Dodgers moved into a three-way tie for first place in the NL West with the win in the opener of their six-game homestand.

“You run into a guy throwing the way he was throwing tonight and you’re going to lose some games,” Houston Manager Larry Dierker said.

“He mixed in a lot of change-ups, a lot of breaking balls,” said Jeff Bagwell, who went 3 for 4. “He probably didn’t have his best fastball tonight but he was obviously pretty effective.”

Houston starter Wade Miller (6-2) suffered the loss after giving up four runs on nine hits in seven innings.

The Dodgers got to Miller with two runs in the second inning.

Marquis Grissom, starting in place of Sheffield in left, singled to right-center with one out. Chad Kreuter followed with a double to the left-center wall, allowing Grissom to score from first base standing up.

Miller then unleashed a wild pitch past catcher Brad Ausmus, Kreuter moving to third.

Alex Cora’s sacrifice fly to left fielder Richard Hidalgo was deep enough for Kreuter to score to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.

Green’s two-run homer came in the sixth.

After Tom Goodwin led off the inning with a single to center and moved to second on Mark Grudzielanek’s groundout, Green turned on an 0-and-2 Miller fastball and drove it 418 feet into the right-field pavilion.

It was Green’s 11th home run, tying him with Sheffield for the team lead, and his team-leading 32nd and 33rd runs batted in.

“It was a big lift for him [personally],” Tracy said of Green’s homer. “The home run came at a great time in the game in that it gave us some breathing room.”

The Astros scored their lone run off Park in the eighth inning when Craig Biggio’s two-out single scored Ausmus.