Martin ends it in grand fashion

Those who left Dodger Stadium before the ninth inning Saturday night to avoid a potential logjam created by the new controlled zone parking system missed some unrestrained madness within the confines of the stadium itself.

And this kind of wackiness was a lot more tolerable for Dodgers fans.

Pinch-hitter Wilson Valdez scored the tying run in the ninth inning on a passed ball and Russell Martin crushed a walk-off grand slam in the 10th to lift the Dodgers to a wild 7-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“I was trying to hit a fly ball somewhere,” said Martin, whose grand slam on a Shawn Chacon sinker that didn’t sink was the first of his career. “Why not hit it over the fence? I hit it on the sweet spot and it took off.”

Martin circled the bases gleefully before tossing his batting helmet aside and stepping on home plate and into an awaiting mass of blue-clad humanity.

The Dodgers (13-5) won for the ninth time in their last 11 games and maintained the best record in baseball on a night when starter Brad Penny dropped them into an early two-run hole by walking Pirates counterpart Ian Snell and then the .100-hitting Adam LaRoche with the bases loaded.

Snell held the Dodgers mostly in check for seven innings before they rallied against a leaky Pirates bullpen in the ninth and 10th.

And they did it in the ninth without a hit.

Entrusted with a 3-2 lead, Pittsburgh closer Salomon Torres walked Andre Ethier leading off the inning. But Ethier was out when Valdez’s bunt was quickly fielded by third baseman Jose Bautista, who fired to second base.

Valdez advanced to second on a wild pitch to pinch-hitter Olmedo Saenz and took third when catcher Ronny Paulino’s throw sailed into center field.

Then, with Saenz still at the plate, Torres unfurled a pitch that got past Paulino and went all the way to the backstop, bouncing back toward the catcher. Paulino pounced on the ball and fired to Torres covering the plate, but the pitcher’s tag was too late to get Valdez sliding home.

“When he tried to block the base, I had slid already,” Valdez said.

Juan Pierre got the Dodgers off to a good start in the 10th when he led off with a single to right off Jonah Bayliss and took second with one out on Jeff Kent’s single through the right side of the infield. Luis Gonzalez then walked against Damaso Marte to bring up Martin, who sent Chacon’s 1-and-2 pitch into the Dodgers bullpen beyond the left-field fence.

“I was zero for three until that point,” Martin said. “But nobody remembers that.”

The rally allowed Penny to maintain his perfect record on a night he gave up six hits and three runs -- two earned -- in six-plus innings. He walked four and struck out three, and his earned-run average crept upward to 1.37.

Things unraveled a bit for Penny in the third when LaRoche walked with the bases loaded to force in a run and give the Pirates a 2-1 lead. Dodgers Manager Grady Little then exchanged words with home plate umpire Joe West about his strike zone during a visit to the mound and was ejected on his way off the field.

Before Little could even reach the dugout steps leading toward the clubhouse, Penny uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Jack Wilson to score from third base and extend Pittsburgh’s advantage to 3-1.

Was that sequence maddening for Penny?

“Not now,” Penny said a few hours later amid a jubilant clubhouse. “If we would have lost, of course it would have been frustrating.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com