Dodgers Know the Drill, Face the Chin Music

All week long, the Dodgers felt they’d been taking it on the chin, but they didn’t understand the true meaning of that term until the seventh inning Saturday, when they really took one on the chin, a 97-mph Felix Rodriguez fastball that hit Eric Karros in the jaw and sent the Dodger first baseman to the hospital.

Maybe it was the sight of Karros sprawled face-down in the dirt or of blood seeping into the towel covering his face as he was escorted off the field, but the incident seemed to spark an anemic offense that went 49 consecutive innings without scoring multiple runs last week.

That streak came to an end in the eighth, when the Dodgers used some good fortune and some good execution to score three runs for an emotional 4-2 come-from-behind victory over the San Francisco Giants before 50,093 in Dodger Stadium.

Alex Cora tied the score with an RBI single off Rodriguez, and leadoff batter Dave Roberts, who had an RBI single in the fourth and stole three bases, hit the game-winner, lofting a two-run single to right off Tim Worrell to end the Dodgers’ five-game losing streak and push them back into second place in the National League West.

“Even though the pitch wasn’t on purpose, I think it lit a fire under us,” Roberts said of Rodriguez’s errant pitch. “We wanted to pick [Karros] up.”

Karros was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital, where X-rays of his jaw were negative. But he suffered a cut to his chin that required minor plastic surgery. He also suffered numerous scrapes on the inside of his mouth and lip and is expected to be out at least a game or two.

“Nobody tried to hit anybody, especially in a situation like that,” Giant Manager Dusty Baker said. “Any time you throw a projectile 90-100 mph, every once in a while, some are going to get away.”

Rodriguez, a former Dodger who played with Karros in Los Angeles in 1995, planned to call him to apologize. “We played together, and he’s a great guy,” Rodriguez said. “I would never try to hit a guy like that.”

The Dodgers trailed, 2-1, when Karros left, and the Giants nearly blew the game open in top of the eighth when, with runners on second and third and one out, Rich Aurilia sent a wicked liner back to the box.

But Dodger reliever Paul Quantrill somehow got a glove on it, deflecting the ball to shortstop Cora, who threw to first for the out, the runners holding.

Quantrill walked J.T. Snow intentionally to load the bases, and Tsuyoshi Shinjo sent a liner toward the middle, but second baseman Mark Grudzielanek made a diving catch to end the inning.

Adrian Beltre opened the bottom of the eighth with a single to right, and though Rodriguez shattered Grudzielanek’s bat into three or four pieces, Grudzielanek got enough of the pitch to ground a single into right field, moving Beltre to third.

Cora’s single to left-center on a 1-2 pitch tied the score, 2-2, and pinch-hitter Jeff Reboulet’s sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third. Roberts, who had three singles and a walk but didn’t score, followed with his game-winning hit to right.

Closer Eric Gagne retired the side in order in the ninth for his 34th save, the Dodgers shook hands on the field for the first time since Sunday night, and then their thoughts turned to Karros, their fallen teammate.

“It’s tragic when you see that because it could be a career-ending injury,” Grudzielanek said. “We know it wasn’t intentional, but maybe that woke us up a bit.... We’ve been pushed around all week and decided to put an end to it.”

A sense of relief outweighed any feelings of bravado, though. After a devastating 3-2, 12-inning loss to the Giants Friday night, when the Dodgers failed to score after Karros’ leadoff triple in the 11th, Karros said it was the kind of defeat “that can send a team spiraling.”

But the Dodgers bounced back Saturday behind the pitching of Omar Daal, who gave up two runs and five hits in seven innings, and Roberts’ hitting.

“We can kind of exhale,” Roberts said. “Hopefully we can build on this.”