Dodgers Paint the Town Red

The Dodgers showed they are capable of beating non-contending teams that have given up on the season, completing a three-game sweep of the downtrodden Cincinnati Reds with a 4-3 victory before 30,625 in Dodger Stadium on Thursday night.

Another bend-but-don’t-break performance from starter Hideo Nomo, another clutch hit from third baseman Adrian Beltre and another superb effort by the bullpen, including a record-tying save by Eric Gagne, extended the Dodger win streak to four and pushed them to within 4 1/2 games of the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League wild-card race.

Now the hard part: Thirteen games against the wild-card-contending Cubs, Marlins and Expos, seven of those on the road at Florida and Chicago.

The Dodgers’ last swing through baseball’s higher-rent district, their nine-game trip to Arizona, Philadelphia and Atlanta, didn’t go too well: two wins, seven losses, one batting instructor fired, playoff hopes nearly doused. Then the Reds came to town, providing an elixir of sorts for the Dodgers.

“It was beneficial to sweep the series so we can get some momentum going into the weekend series,” right fielder Shawn Green said in anticipation of a three-game series against the Cubs. “We’re starting to play well. It’s not like we’re blowing teams out, but we’re executing, getting some timely hitting.... It makes a big difference.”

So does the Dodger bullpen, the difference maker in the Reds series. One night after dousing a first-and-third, no-out jam in the eighth inning of Wednesday’s 2-1 victory, left-hander Tom Martin and right-hander Paul Quantrill did another fine job of handing the baton to Gagne.

Nomo gave up a home run to D’Angelo Jimenez to open the seventh, cutting the Dodger lead to 4-3, and got Ray Olmedo. With the heart of the Red order coming up, left-handed Sean Casey and Adam Dunn, Manager Jim Tracy summoned Martin, who got Casey to ground to second and struck out Dunn.

Quantrill retired the side in order in the eighth, and Gagne struck out the side in the ninth for his 38th save, tying the major league record for consecutive saves to start the season, set by Cleveland’s Jose Mesa in 1995.

Gagne, who has retired the last 19 batters he has faced, 11 by strikeout, has a streak of 46 saves dating back to last August and has converted 90 of 94 save opportunities in his two years as Dodger closer.

“He makes the whole pitching staff better,” Green said. “He shortens everyone’s job. You don’t have to worry about the ninth inning. The bullpen can be more specialized because once you get the ball to Gagne, there’s a very good chance the game is over.”

Green got the Dodgers going offensively Thursday night when he followed Dave Roberts’ leadoff walk and stolen base with an RBI double in the first. The Reds scored one run in the second and one in the third but could have done more damage had second baseman Alex Cora not cut down Paul Wilson at the plate on Casey’s grounder in the third.

Then Beltre, who had the game-winning RBI Wednesday night, came through again, delivering a two-run double in the third inning that turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 Dodger lead.

But if not for mistakes by Cincinnati’s young middle-infield tandem of second baseman Jimenez and shortstop Olmedo, Wilson, the Reds’ starter, might have gotten out of the inning with no damage.

After Jeromy Burnitz walked with one out, Paul Lo Duca sent a hard grounder up the middle. Jimenez made a nice grab, but instead of transferring the ball from his glove to his hand and tossing to Olmedo to start a potential double play, he flipped the ball with his glove hand to the shortstop.

The flip was high, though, and Olmedo dropped the ball for an error while trying to make a bare-handed grab. Both runners were safe, and Beltre made the Reds pay by tapping an outside pitch down the right-field line, scoring Burnitz from second and Lo Duca from first for a 3-2 lead.

The Dodgers extended the lead to 4-2 in the fourth when Cesar Izturis walked, Green singled and Burnitz got the RBI single.