LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers wanted to put last week's disastrous performance in San Francisco behind them as quickly as possible -- particularly Paul Lo Duca and Eric Gagne.
Jayson Werth hit a tying homer and scored the go-ahead run on Lo Duca's eighth-inning single, leading the Dodgers to a 2-1 victory over the Giants on Tuesday night. Gagne got three outs for his 19th save, extending his consecutive saves streak to 82.
"We got spanked up there and got our butts kicked. They stomped us, and we weren't ready. So to win this game is big," Lo Duca said. "We've still got two more games against these guys and we've got to face their best (Jason Schmidt) on Thursday."
The Dodgers and Giants resumed their rivalry following last week's four-game sweep by the Giants at San Francisco. In the series finale, Giants outfielder Michael Tucker got upset about a high pitch over the middle of the plate from Gagne and triggered a bench-clearing episode that resulted in ejections for both players.
That incident came one day after the benches cleared after pitcher Jeff Weaver covered first base on a grounder by Tucker, and Tucker took exception to Weaver's high tag as both players got there simultaneously. There were no such extracurricular activities this time, however.
"We're professionals. This game has nothing to do with what happened before. We wanted to get a game back in the standings, and that's what it's all about," Gagne said. "We know we have a good team. We didn't show up in San Francisco, and now it's time to show them that we can play."
Werth, who tied it in the fifth with his fourth home run, greeted reliever Jim Brower (5-5) with a leadoff single in the eighth and advanced on a sacrifice by pinch-hitter Alex Cora.
Scott Eyre came in and walked pinch-hitter David Ross. Felix Rodriguez came in and got Cesar Izturis to ground into a fielder's choice, putting runners at the corners. Lo Duca then lined a 1-1 pitch to left to score Werth.
Guillermo Mota (4-3) got the win with two scoreless innings, including two timely double plays, before Gagne closed it out and put the third-place Dodgers within 2 1/2 games of the NL West-leading Giants.
San Francisco right-hander Jerome Williams missed his scheduled outing because of mild tendinitis in his shoulder, and lefty Noah Lowry came out of the bullpen to make his third big-league start. He allowed a run and just two hits over seven innings, struck out nine and walked one.
"We couldn't really figure him out," Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said. "He threw a number of changeups and we had a number of swings on changeups. There wasn't a whole lot of adjusting. We continued to swing through them and he continued to throw them behind in the count."
Weaver threw six innings, allowing a run and six hits. He struck out two and issued three walks, all to Barry Bonds, who homered twice against him April 18. Two of the walks were intentional.
"That's the strategy that everybody uses these days," Giants catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. "It's bad for Barry because he never gets to do anything in the game and it kind of takes him out of the equation.
"They pitched to him earlier in the year and he beat them. So after he beats every team, they quit pitching to him. You can't blame them. But we wish he'd get more swings."
Mota relieved Weaver and gave up a one-out double in the seventh by J.T. Snow. The right-hander walked Marquis Grissom on a 3-2 pitch, bringing up Bonds, who homered in his only previous official at-bat against Mota.
Bonds walked on four straight pitches to load the bases, but Mota got a break when second baseman Jose Hernandez caught a soft broken-bat liner by Edgardo Alfonzo and doubled up Grissom at second base to end the threat.
"Trace walked to the mound and basically said, 'Walk Bonds. If he fishes, he fishes. But don't mess with him,"' Lo Duca said. "But Alfonzo's been hot, so you've got to make key pitches on him. Mo did and got us out of the inning."
Adrian Beltre led off the second inning with a double, but was stranded there after Lowry struck out Juan Encarnacion, Olmedo Saenz and Werth in succession. That was the Dodgers' only hit until the fifth, when Werth drove a 2-1 pitch to dead center with one out.
Alfonzo, who drove in a career-high six runs last Tuesday against the Dodgers, opened the scoring in the first with a broken-bat bloop single to left field after Weaver intentionally walked Bonds with two outs.
Notes
- Bonds, seven walks shy of Rickey Henderson's major-league mark of 2,190, has received a record 543 intentional walks -- compared to 61 for Henderson.
- Bonds' next extra-base hit will be his 1,300th. The only players with more are Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays.
- Tucker singled twice in three at-bats against Weaver, after entering 3-for-19 against him.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2004, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
