Gagne Keeps Bonds Outside the Box

This victory over the Giants wasn’t as dramatic because Barry Bonds and Eric Gagne didn’t collide again in the ninth inning, but it was still too suspenseful for the Dodgers.

Bonds continued his ascent on baseball’s all-time lists, hitting his 663rd home run a day after his epic encounter with Gagne, but the Dodger closer narrowly avoided another showdown Saturday while escaping a jam and finishing a 5-4 win over San Francisco.

With one out, a run already in and the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base in the ninth, Gagne induced a game-ending double-play grounder from Marquis Grissom with cleanup batter Bonds on deck, deflating another raucous sellout crowd of 42,663 at SBC Park.

“We needed that double play,” said catcher Paul Lo Duca, who went four for five and extended his hitting streak to 11 games.

“It puts you in a tough situation if you don’t get a double-play ball there because ... well, what do you do? You probably walk Barry and load the bases and try to go get [Edgardo] Alfonzo.

“The bottom line is that you don’t want to have to get to that point, you just don’t want to get to Barry. Eric made a great pitch on Grissom, so we didn’t have to worry about it.”

Gagne struggled with his command in his third appearance in as many days, a day after Bonds smashed a two-run homer against him -- on a 100-mph fastball -- in the Dodgers’ 3-2 series-opening victory.

Pedro Feliz led off the ninth and connected for an opposite-field homer, a rarity for a right-handed batter at SBC Park, and the crowd stood and cheered as the Giants had runners on first and second on a walk, a sacrifice bunt and another walk.

But Gagne showed the mettle that helped him win last season’s National League Cy Young Award, recording his fourth save when shortstop Cesar Izturis fielded Grissom’s slow bouncer up the middle, stepped on second and threw to first to end the game and give the Dodgers victories in the first two games of a three-game series.

“You never want to face Barry in that kind of a situation,” said Gagne, who last suffered a blown save Aug. 28, 2002. “He’s the greatest, so I was looking for a double play. That’s why I threw two changeups in a row.”

Gagne notched his major league-record 67th consecutive save, and Jose Lima (2-0) earned the victory in his first start as a Dodger, giving up two runs in five solid innings.

Reserve infielder Jose Hernandez went four for four -- he and Lo Duca combined for eight of the Dodgers’ 14 hits -- and center fielder Milton Bradley continued to make new General Manager Paul DePodesta look good.

Bradley, who has had a major impact on offense and defense since arriving on the eve of the regular season from Cleveland, delivered a two-run homer (his second) in the sixth against Giant starter Kirk Rueter (0-1), igniting a three-run rally as the Dodgers erased a 2-0 deficit. Bradley also doubled in the ninth against closer Matt Herges and scored the Dodgers’ final run on Adrian Beltre’s two-out single.

The Dodgers have won four in a row after an 8-3 loss at San Diego on Tuesday, good for a 4-1 start on a nine-game, 10-day trip against the National League West. They’re feeling good at 8-3, and even Bonds’ towering solo homer on a 95-mph fastball from reliever Darren Dreifort in the eighth couldn’t dampen their mood.

“It’s just momentum,” Bradley said. “Momentum can switch at any time, but we’ve got it right now.”

Gagne has had it since he began closing.

The All-Star right-hander has saves in the Dodgers’ last three victories. Manager Jim Tracy turned to him again in an afternoon game after Gagne threw 26 pitches, including six in his electrifying battle with Bonds, in Friday night’s game.

Was Gagne physically and emotionally drained?

“Maybe a little bit,” Lo Duca said. “This was the first time in a while where it was a night-to-day-game [situation]. He was still throwing pretty hard, but it’s just that his location was off.

“He’s just a little off-kilter right now. He’s pulling a lot of fastballs. He just can’t seem to find the zone with his fastball, but his changeup is still good.”