In a Pinch, Hundley Delivers for Dodgers

Twenty times this season, through the seventh inning of Thursday night’s game against San Diego, Dodger Manager Jim Tracy sent a player from what was supposed to be a vastly improved bench into the game to bat. All 20 times that player failed to produce a hit.

Then in the eighth inning Thursday night, a light went on above the Dodger bench, the lights went out on the Padre bullpen, and the eyes of Dodger batters who have spent most of this season wandering through the dark were illuminated like 100-watt bulbs.

With the Dodgers trailing by three, Daryle Ward ended a shutout with a two-out, pinch-hit, single in the eighth, and Todd Hundley followed with a dramatic, pinch-hit, three-run home run to lift the Dodgers to a stunning 4-3 victory over the Padres before 23,486 in Dodger Stadium.

“That was a tremendous comeback, a game you look at and say we didn’t have a chance to win,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “That three-run deficit probably looked like a half dozen.”

The way the Dodgers have been batting, putting up zeros in 30 of their previous 33 innings entering the eighth Thursday night, the Padres’ three-run lead probably looked like 12-0.

The Dodgers managed all of three hits through seven innings against San Diego starter Adam Eaton and reliever Matt Herges, and they appeared on the verge of another disappointing defeat.

But Shawn Green and Brian Jordan opened the eighth with singles off reliever Jesse Orosco. Fred McGriff popped to second, Jaret Wright came on to strike out Adrian Beltre, and the Padres were close to an escape.

But Ward, batting for second baseman Alex Cora, lined an RBI single to center. Hundley was summoned to bat for shortstop Cesar Izturis, and Wright jumped ahead of him in the count.

The Padre right-hander then hung a 1-and-2 sinker that Hundley belted for his first pinch-hit homer since April 24, 2001, against Colorado, and a 4-3 lead.

“It felt good off the bat, and leaving the infield, I thought it had a chance, but I know the air here, and I know balls can die real fast,” said Hundley, who came out of the dugout for a curtain call. “It’s always fun to win this late in the game. These types of home runs are exciting, and these types of wins are huge.”

Especially for the Dodger bench, a highly touted but highly unproductive group until Thursday night.

“It’s not going to be one guy who is going to change the whole thing, but anything positive helps,” Ward said. “It’s great to know that late in the game, we can be down, and we can get this kind of help off the bench.... It’s a tough job to come off the bench cold and hit, but we’ve been working as hard as we can.”

Dodger reliever Troy Brohawn, who threw a scoreless eighth, earned the victory, and closer Eric Gagne retired the side in order in the ninth for his fourth save, completing a victory that could provide the emotional spark the team has lacked and some much-needed momentum going into a three-game series against San Francisco.

The rally also took starter Darren Dreifort off the hook for another loss to the Padres, a team he has yet to defeat in his eight-year major league career.

It’s one of those statistical oddities that baseball seems to thrive on, like former infielder Randy Velarde’s better-than-.400 career average against Randy Johnson and Angel outfielder Tim Salmon’s gaudy numbers (.374, 16 homers, 56 RBIs) at the Ballpark in Arlington.

Dreifort has started 11 games and appeared in seven others against San Diego and has as many victories against them as your padre: none.

Dreifort, who is 0-8 against San Diego, pitched well -- he gave up three runs and four hits and struck out seven in seven innings, the Dodgers’ 12th quality start (six innings or more, three earned runs or fewer) in 16 games.

He gave up an RBI double to Eaton in the second and retired 12 in a row before Ryan Klesko’s two-out single in the sixth and Rondell White’s two-run homer. But a no-decision was better than a loss.