Dodgers bobble away game

The capacity crowd filed out of Dodger Stadium with Nomar Garciaparra bobbleheads tucked under their arms and the lingering memory of the popular first baseman taking a change-up from Armando Benitez for strike three to end the game.

But Garciaparra was hardly the only Dodgers dunderhead Thursday night.

The San Francisco Giants completed a three-game sweep and pulled even with the Dodgers at the top of the National League West Division with a 5-4 victory that was a far more generous giveaway than the plastic likings of Garciaparra.

Most munificent was Juan Pierre, who dropped a fly ball after a long run in right-center to fuel the Giants’ two-run eighth-inning rally that broke a 3-3 tie. Six innings earlier, the new Dodgers center fielder missed the sign for a squeeze bunt, blunting a rally that could have extended an early lead.

“I missed that ball and I missed a sign,” Pierre said. “I just have to play better.”

Even with the missed squeeze, the Dodgers led, 3-0, after two innings with early season staff stopper Brad Penny on the mound. But the Giants won their eighth in a row by capitalizing on opportunities, while the Dodgers squandered theirs.

“That game was determined in the second and third innings,” Manager Grady Little said. “We had our chances.”

Giants starter Russ Ortiz was wobbly in the first inning, giving up a run. But he got Luis Gonzalez to bounce into an inning-ending double play with two runners on. The Dodgers added two in the second, but Pierre missed the sign with one out and runners on second and third, causing Andre Ethier to be tagged out in a rundown. Then Pierre stranded Rafael Furcal at second, flying out to end the inning.

The third inning was just as frustrating. Singles by Jeff Kent and Gonzalez and a walk to Russell Martin loaded the bases with one out. Slumping Wilson Betemit -- moved up in the batting order from eighth to seventh -- struck out after the count had gone 3-0, and Ethier flied out.

“I thought we could have scored a few more, but I had a lead and didn’t protect it,” Penny said. “My stuff was fine. I should have done it.”

Penny has become more Prius than Porsche. He still throws harder than most starters but is economical with his pitches, striking out fewer batters and getting outs earlier in counts.

The key has been his ability to get his curve and splitter over the plate. A scout said before the game that the book on Penny has changed from waiting him out to “swinging early in the count because he’ll start using those off-speed pitches.”

Penny needed only 85 pitches to get through six innings, and he struck out two to give him a modest 11 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings. He entered the game with the second-lowest earned-run average in baseball at 1.37, but the Giants chipped away at him for three runs, getting one in the third on a double by Randy Winn and single by Dave Roberts, and adding two in the sixth on RBI singles by Ray Durham and Bengie Molina with two out.

Although Penny could have pitched longer, Little lifted him for a pinch-hitter with two out in the sixth and a runner on third with the score tied, 3-3. Reliever Kevin Correia hit Olmedo Saenz with a pitch, but Furcal was thrown out on a dribbler in front of the plate.

Ethier pulled the Dodgers to within one run with a home run in the eighth, but Benitez picked up his third save in as many days by retiring Furcal, Pierre and Garciaparra.

steve.henson@latimes.com