Despite Injuries, Dodgers Win, 7-2 : But Sprains, Strains and Other Pains Take Toll on Team

Injuries hit the Dodgers hard Tuesday night, even if the Cincinnati Reds didn’t. There was little doubt that they would beat the Reds, provided they could scrounge up enough players to finish them off.

“I had three guys left to use on the bench in the ninth,” said Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda, winding up for the punch line. “(Alex) Trevino at catcher, Trevino for the infield and Trevino for the outfield.”

Despite a harrowing ninth inning, with a makeshift infield and reliever Matt Young making things interesting, the Dodgers managed to wrap up a 7-2 win over the first-place Reds before a crowd of 36,276 at Dodger Stadium.

Even on a night when the Dodgers won, they still lost. The attrition of players, with injuries ranging from sprains to strains and other pains, began early Tuesday.

Before the game, right fielder Mike Marshall had his sprained left wrist placed in a plaster cast. He is listed on a day-to-day basis. Third baseman Jeff Hamilton had his sprained right ankle placed in an air cast. He, too, is day-to-day.

Midway through Tuesday’s game, starting pitcher Bob Welch (11-7) was forced to leave the game with a strained right groin muscle. Welch, the Dodgers said, is not expected to miss a start. And, in the eighth, shortstop Dave Anderson pulled up at first base with a strained left hamstring.

“I’m on the dreaded day-to-day, too,” Anderson said.

That’s a wrap on the injuries.

Here is what the Dodgers (50-62) were left with against the Reds (59-55), who continue to struggle despite holding a one-game lead over the San Francisco Giants in the West:

Pedro Guerrero made his first start at first base since late last season. Danny Heep made only his fourth start of the season, in left field. And Ken Landreaux was back in right field for Marshall, and Mickey Hatcher at third base for Hamilton.

By the ninth inning, though, the Dodger infield had Mariano Duncan at shortstop, Phil Garner at second (part of a double switch the inning before) and one extremely nervous manager in the dugout.

Asked what he was thinking with his ninth-inning alignment, Lasorda smiled wryly and said: “That’s a good question. I can’t give you a good answer.”

The Reds, trailing by six runs at that point, pushed across one run in the ninth, thanks to a leadoff double by Bo Diaz and infield errors by Hatcher and Garner. But Young managed to pitch his way out of the bases-loaded jam to give the Dodgers the win.

Beat up as they are, the Dodgers still cling to the hope that Tuesday’s win will start a comeback that will elevate them into the West race. They are eight games behind, with two more games against the Reds and three in San Francisco this week.

“With all these day-to-day guys, I don’t know how long we’ll have to play with 21 guys,” Lasorda said. “That’s tough. . . . If it’s not one thing, it’s another. We were falling over like the Battle of the Bulge tonight.”

The injury siege forced Lasorda to be creative with his lineup. It turned out, though, that some of the experiments produced positive results.

Guerrero, who had a run-scoring single in the fifth off loser Jeff Montgomery, was steady in the field at first base. Lasorda said afterward that Guerrero will continue to start at first.

“I play wherever they put me,” Guerrero said. “It doesn’t matter.”

Without a left-handed hitter to hit for the injured Welch in the fifth against Montgomery, a right-hander, Lasorda turned to pitcher Fernando Valenzuela.

Valenzuela, 0 for 3 as a pinch-hitter this season, singled to left to start a two-run inning that made it 5-1, Dodgers. “That was a big hit,” Lasorda said. “I didn’t have anyone else in that situation.”

That’s because Heep and Landreaux, Lasorda’s usual left-handed pinch-hitters, were in the lineup. Heep, 3 for 32 since signing with the Dodgers on June 12, had an RBI single in the first and scored a run in the fifth after walking. Landreaux went 2 for 4 with an RBI.

John Shelby, one Dodger regular who had managed to avoid injuries this season, contributed once again. Shelby, who has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games, had two RBIs on a double and infield single. He also made a diving catch in center field in the eighth inning that bailed Dodger reliever Tim Crews out of a jam.

Crews, no longer bothered by a sore triceps muscle in his right arm, pitched 2 innings and yielded three hits. He left with a runner on third in the eighth, but Young retired Dave Parker on a ground ball to Guerrero at first. Crews has now pitched 7 innings without allowing an earned run.

Afterward, Dodger players chatted about their various maladies.

Welch, who gave up only a fourth-inning home run to Eric Davis and struck out six Reds through five innings, said he did not want to risk aggravating his groin strain.

“Sometimes, you can go out there and still pitch with a little (soreness) and you compensate other ways,” Welch said. “I’ve pitched before with a nagging injury, but it started getting worse and I was focusing on it too much. You can’t get distracting with a good hitting team like the Reds.”

Said Lasorda: “We didn’t want him to hurt it any more. You can tell by the look on his face with those last two hitters that he was hurting.”

Hamilton said he hopes to play tonight if the swelling in his ankle subsides, though he admitted he cannot put pressure on his right leg.

“I can barely walk on it right now,” Hamilton said. “This morning, when I woke up, it was sore and I couldn’t move it. Hopefully, tomorrow, it might go away. I’m being optimistic.”

Anderson, who received a cortisone injection, doesn’t know how long he will be out.

“Well, we’ve been lucky with injuries this season, but this is definitely a bad time to start getting them.”

Marshall, examined by Dr. Martin Zimel, a hand specialist, before the game, was not available afterward. Marshall has missed 33 of the Dodgers’ 112 games with seven separate injuries or illnesses.

“That’s another setback for him,” Lasorda said of Marshall. “That guy’s had more tough luck than anybody. You don’t know how long he’s going to be out. I’ve got no idea.”

Lasorda has more pressing concerns, like trying to find nine healthy players without using Alex Trevino at three positions at once.

Dodger Notes

Mike Marshall’s condition is such that he might be placed on the disabled list for the second time this season. Said Dodger Vice President Fred Claire: “We’ll know a lot more about Mike’s condition in a few days, then we’ll decide what action to take in terms of the disabled list. I’d like to look at the positive side and hope he’ll be back in a couple days.” Trainer Bill Buhler on Marshall’s injury: “He mentioned his wrist hurting some time ago. Apparently, it’s all right when he makes solid contact (with the ball), but it hurts him when he gets jammed or has to make a check swing.” Buhler also said Marshall’s left ankle was “quite swollen.” . . . Pitcher Jeff Montgomery, making his first major league start, had the name of his team misspelled on his jersey. It read: “Cincnnati.” Montgomery, apparently, couldn’t buy a vowel--or much offensive support from his teammates. . . . Tim Leary (2-7) opposes Bill Gullickson (10-9) tonight at 7:30.