It’s a Bad Start and Finish for Dodgers

One night after Eric Gagne made history in a Dodger victory, a late bullpen meltdown concluded a Dodger defeat.

Reliever Paul Shuey did not retire any of the four batters he faced in the ninth Wednesday, issuing a bases-loaded walk to one hitter on four pitches, as the Houston Astros piled on the final four runs of an 8-2 victory before 31,027 at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers were already in a tenuous position after starter Kevin Brown pitched them into a four-run first-inning deficit, having rallied only once this season to win a game in which they trailed by four runs, but Shuey’s ineffectiveness ended any realistic thoughts of a comeback.

The defeat dropped the Dodgers (72-66) into a third-place tie with St. Louis in the National League wild-card standings, 2 1/2 games behind co-leaders Philadelphia and Florida.

The Dodgers play their final 24 games against National League West opponents, beginning Friday when they open a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

“It’s going to come down to how well we play within our division the rest of the season,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said.

The Dodgers did not play particularly well against NL Central-leading Houston over the last two weeks, winning two of six games.

Shuey retired the Astros in order in the eighth but could not get an out in the ninth. Lance Berkman led off with a single to left and went to third on Hidalgo’s double to right-center. Shuey walked pinch-hitter Mitch Meluskey to load the bases before walking Orlando Merced on four pitches to score Berkman.

Paul Quantrill relieved Shuey, and he gave up a run on a fielder’s choice and two more on Adam Everett’s single to right before striking out Jeff Bagwell to elicit sarcastic applause.

The disastrous relief effort came one night after Dodger closer Gagne broke Tom Gordon’s major league record with his 55th consecutive save over two seasons.

Brown retired the final 14 batters he faced over his seven-inning performance Wednesday, but his shaky start hurt the Dodgers. After Brown got the first two Houston batters in the first, five consecutive Astros reached to make it 4-0, capped by Hidalgo’s two-run single and Geoff Blum’s two-run double.

“It’s not like they were killing me, but they got base hits,” said Brown (13-8), who has given up at least four earned runs in consecutive starts for the first time since mid-April. “Unfortunately, that’s just too many runs to spot them.”

The Dodgers compounded their poor start in the second by letting the Astros get runners on first and second with nobody out after first baseman Fred McGriff couldn’t catch Paul Lo Duca’s errant throw in the dirt and Brown hit Craig Biggio with a pitch.

But after Jose Vizcaino sacrificed the runners to second and third, Shawn Green temporarily reversed the momentum. The Dodger right fielder caught Bagwell’s fly ball at medium depth and threw a one-hop strike to the plate to get pitcher Jeriome Robertson, who was tagging from third on the play.

Emboldened by the defensive gem, the Dodgers struck for two runs in the bottom of the inning. McGriff led off with a single to right and took third on Lo Duca’s double to right-center. Jolbert Cabrera drove in McGriff with a single to left, and Cesar Izturis brought Lo Duca home on a fielder’s choice.

The Dodgers mounted another threat in the fourth when Lo Duca and Adrian Beltre hit back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second with one out, but Cabrera and Izturis popped out to end the inning.

Robertson (13-7) retired the last seven Dodgers he faced before being relieved in the sixth by right-hander Brad Lidge. Robertson struck out six and benefited from a fine defensive play in the sixth.

With one out, Berkman robbed McGriff of an extra-base hit with a sprawling catch in left field. That was the last batter Robertson faced.