It’s 31 for Gagne With New Flavor

There were the first-and-third, one-out jams he escaped in San Francisco on April 11 and against Boston on June 22, and the runner-on-third, no-out jam he got out of in Baltimore on June 9, but none of those rivaled the degree of difficulty of Eric Gagne’s latest logic-defying feat.

The Dodger closer escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the ninth inning Friday night to preserve a 6-5 come-from-behind victory over the St. Louis Cardinals before 41,447 in the outdoor sauna that was Busch Stadium.

Gagne fielded Placido Polanco’s come-backer and started a 1-2-3 double play, then retired Jim Edmonds with runners on second and third on a fly ball for his major league-leading 31st save.

And now, the question is: What does he do for an encore? Get out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam with one arm tied behind his back? Or wearing a blindfold?

“I don’t know if you can top that one,” catcher Paul Lo Duca said. “Maybe if he did it in the playoffs or World Series or something.”

The Dodgers, who ended a two-game losing streak, overcame a 4-1 second-inning deficit by scoring twice in the third inning and three times in the sixth off Cardinal right-hander Matt Morris, a National League All-Star.

Shawn Green’s double and Eric Karros’ two-run single highlighted the third, and Mark Grudzielanek (double), Cesar Izturis (sacrifice fly), pinch-hitter Alex Cora (game-tying RBI double) and Dave Roberts (go-ahead RBI single) keyed the sixth.

Guillermo Mota, who is emerging as a bullpen stopper, threw two perfect innings of relief, Jesse Orosco and Paul Quantrill combined to retire the Cardinals in the eighth, and Gagne, who suffered his second blown save of the season Wednesday night at Arizona, started the ninth with a one-run lead.

Pinch-hitter Miguel Cairo greeted Gagne with a single to left. St. Louis Manager Tony La Russa gambled, sending Cairo on a hit-and-run, and Kerry Robinson lined a single into the left-field corner.

Cairo beat Dodger outfielder Brian Jordan’s throw to third, and though replays showed Cairo’s foot came off the bag when third baseman Adrian Beltre applied the tag, umpire Mike Dimuro ruled Cairo safe. Robinson took second on the throw, and Fernando Vina was walked intentionally to load the bases.

Gagne fooled Polanco badly with a first-pitch changeup and followed that with a nasty inside fastball. A jammed Polanco hit a chopper back to Gagne, who tossed to Lo Duca, whose relay to first beat Polanco for the double play.

“That play is tougher than people think,” Lo Duca said. “You’re throwing the ball 98 mph, and then you have to lob one in there. [Gagne] made a great play.”

Up stepped Edmonds, who has 17 home runs and 44 runs batted in on the season. The Dodgers had a choice: Do they walk the left-handed Edmonds and pitch to cleanup batter Albert Pujols, who had a two-run homer in the first inning and an RBI double in the fifth off Dodger starter Odalis Perez (10-4)? Or do they go after Edmonds?

Manager Jim Tracy came to the mound, but Gagne couldn’t tell you what he said.

“I wasn’t really listening,” Gagne said. “I was focused on getting [Edmonds] out. I didn’t want to face Pujols, even though Edmonds is a great hitter too.”

Lo Duca agreed. “I wanted to go after Edmonds, without giving in to him,” he said. “If we go 2-and-0 or 3-and-0, maybe we walk him and go after Pujols.”

Tracy didn’t need to be convinced. “I felt we had to go after the guy at the plate,” he said. “That was the direction we were going.”

Edmonds took ball one and fouled off two pitches. Gagne was in a similar situation Wednesday night, getting ahead of Arizona’s Quinton McCracken, 0-and-2, before McCracken poked a changeup to right for a two-run triple that scored the tying and go-ahead runs.

But on a steamy, 96-degree evening in St. Louis, Gagne and Lo Duca decided to stick with the heat. Gagne threw a 98-mph fastball down the middle, but Edmonds got under it, lifting a towering fly ball that finally found a home in Jordan’s glove, just in front of the wall.

“He has shown time and time again that he has the poise and guts of a burglar,” Tracy said of Gagne, who has a 1.42 earned-run average.

“He’s unbelievable--I can’t remember a guy who’s been that dominant for 86 games,” Lo Duca said. “And no one [complained] about the pitch I called. I wanted to beat him with a fastball. I didn’t want [Edmonds] to flick his bat at something.”