Home Is Not So Sweet for Gagne

The thrill of pitching in his hometown before a few hundred family members and friends, and a crowd that greeted him with a standing ovation, wore off for Dodger closer Eric Gagne as quickly as Troy O’Leary’s eighth-inning laser left the park Tuesday night.

O’Leary blindsided Gagne, lining his first pitch, a 97-mph fastball, over the wall in right-center field for a two-run home run with two out in the eighth to lift the Montreal Expos to a 4-3 victory over the Dodgers before 13,263 in Olympic Stadium.

Gagne’s third blown save of the season--and first since July 3--dropped the Dodgers a season-high eight games behind Arizona in the National League West and into second place in the NL wild-card race, a half-game behind San Francisco.

It was the sixth homer Gagne (1-1) has allowed in 58 2/3 innings this season, and it spoiled starter Andy Ashby’s strong 7 2/3-inning performance, in which he allowed three runs and eight hits while striking out five.

“It was one of those things, he may have been over-pumped,” Dodger catcher Paul Lo Duca said. “He’s pitching in front of the home crowd, he gets a standing ovation.... It’s probably my fault. I should have gone out there and settled him down.

“I tried to joke with him [when he entered the game] but he was focused. It was a tough situation--you have 300 people watching you play, you’re an icon here, he’s human. The guy hit the ball out of the park. What are you gonna do? You have to give O’Leary credit.”

Gagne didn’t think he had too much adrenaline when he entered the game with Vladimir Guerrero, who reached on a two-out single off Ashby, on first.

“Maybe I was a little anxious, but when you step between the lines you have a job to do, and I didn’t do it,” Gagne said. “We played a great game, we battled for eight innings, and I blew it.”

Gagne isn’t the only Dodger reliever to watch a late-inning lead disappear in recent weeks. Since July 21, the Dodger bullpen has combined for a 5.90 earned-run average, seven blown saves and has given up 14 home runs in 21 games.

The Dodgers also blew an excellent chance to tie the score in the top of the ninth Tuesday after Lo Duca led off with a double and was replaced by pinch-runner Cesar Izturis. Eric Karros struck out, Mark Grudzielanek bounced back to the pitcher, Izturis advancing to third, and reliever Scott Stewart struck out pinch-hitter Mike Kinkade to end the game.

“This is definitely a tough loss,” said right fielder Shawn Green, who had three hits and scored a run. “We’ve struggled in the late innings. It’s almost like we’re snake-bitten. We’ve had trouble in close games late.... We’re playing good baseball, but it seems like it’s one play, one pitch, one swing that is making the difference in these close games.”

Tuesday night it was a pitch, a thigh-high fastball over the middle to a hitter Gagne had never faced.

“They read the scouting reports, they know I throw a lot of fastballs,” Gagne said. “If I locate the pitch, it’s no big deal, but I just didn’t get it down and away enough, and he got it. It was right down the middle, and he put good wood on it.”

The homer hit the Dodgers like a stun gun.

“I’ve played against O’Leary for a lot of years, and I know he’s very capable of doing that,” Green said. “Still, it’s tough to do that with a 97-mph fastball, and it’s the first time you’ve ever seen a guy.”

The Dodgers had turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead with two runs in the fifth, a rally that began when Alex Cora reached on second baseman Jose Vidro’s fielding error with one out.

Ashby bunted Cora to second, and Dave Roberts and Marquis Grissom came through with clutch, two-out, run-scoring hits, Roberts’ turning what looked like an RBI single into a hustle double and putting himself in scoring position for Grissom’s single up the middle.

But Ashby, who allowed two runs in the first and blanked the Expos for the next six innings, couldn’t close the eighth, giving up Guerrero’s single after retiring the first two batters. Manager Jim Tracy summoned Gagne, who hadn’t pitched in three days.

“One pitch can win the game, and one pitch can lose the game,” Tracy said. “There’s nothing you can do differently there. We had four outs to win, our closer was fresh and ready to go, and the guy hit a ball out of the park.”