Wednesday, May 08, 2002
Dodgers 6, Braves 5, 16 innings
The Associated Press
ATLANTA —Brian Jorda homered twice in his return to Atlanta, but the Los Angeles Dodgers had to overcome Gary Sheffield's tying home run in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Braves 6-5 in 16 innings Tuesday night.
After swapping teams in a blockbuster offseason trade, Jordan and Sheffield spent much of the long night trying to one-up the other. It was a memorable display by two players who have struggled in their new surroundings.
“It's been tough,” said Jordan, who was hitting just .248 before a 4-for-7 performance. “I've been trying too hard to make the trade look good and putting too much pressure on myself. Sheffield has been doing the same thing.”
Jordan homered in the second. Sheffield threw out the very next hitter trying to stretch a double into a single. Jordan homered again in the ninth with two outs. Sheffield came through in the bottom half with a two-out homer of his own.
“It was no big deal,” said Sheffield, who homered for the first time since April 4. “My numbers speak for themselves. I don't have to match anybody.”
Paul LoDuca drove in the winning run with a fielder's-choice grounder, and the 5-hour, 19-minute game ended at 12:54 a.m. EDT. Giovanni Carrara (2-0) earned the win with five innings of scoreless relief. Jesse Orosco picked up his first save since 1999.
“They had a lot of chances tonight, and so did we,” LoDuca said. “Someone had to win.”
The Braves, who already have played two 14-inning games this season, topped that with their longest game since an 18-inning epic against the Dodgers in 1996.
Los Angeles played a 16-inning game against Arizona three years ago.
Marquis Grissom started the winning rally with a single, stole second and went to third on catcher Javy Lopez's throwing error. Kerry Ligtenberg (0-2) walked Shawn Green intentionally, then got LoDuca to hit a grounder to third.
Marcus Giles took the throw from Vinny Castilla, but was taken out hard by Green's slide. The relay bounced to first and Julio Franco couldn't make the pickup.
“I was so dead,” said LoDuca, who also had an RBI double in the first. “I've been nursing a hamstring injury, but if it was going to blow, it was going to blow then, because there was no way I was going to get doubled up on that ball. Green did a great job of breaking it up.”
Jordan homered against Tom Glavine leading off the second, then Sheffield answered with a brilliant defensive play against the next hitter. Adrian Beltre tried to stretch a single to a double, but Sheffield nailed him with a one-hop throw from the right-field corner.
Jordan homered again in the ninth, strutting sideways across the plate, pointing toward his family in the stands and glancing in the direction of general manager John Schuerholz, who dealt the popular player away.
Jordan didn't have long to relish the moment. Sheffield matched him in the bottom half with a 421-foot drive against Dodgers closer Eric Gagne, who blew his first save after converting 10 straight chances.
Sheffield homered in his first three games with the Braves, but he has been bothered since by a sore wrist. He even heard a smattering of boos when he came up in the ninth — especially after Jordan's performance.
“He's a good player,” Sheffield said. “He expects to do well and I expect to do well. I'm getting back to my normal self. When I get back, everybody will know it.”
Andruw Jones hit a three-run homer for the Braves, who played their seventh extra-inning game of the season — and third in five games.
Glavine gave up four runs in 5 2-3 innings, after allowing just five earned runs in his first seven starts this season. His NL-leading ERA of 0.93 climbed to 1.50.
Los Angeles had at least one runner in every inning worked by Glavine, who surrendered nine hits, four walks and hit a batter during a 109-pitch outing. The left-hander wasn't victimized by a bunch of bloopers, either — in addition to Jordan's first homer, the Dodgers also had four doubles.
Hideo Nomo didn't fare much better. The Los Angeles starter threw 104 pitches in just five innings, during which he allowed seven hits, walked five and threw a wild pitch.
Nomo walked three in the first inning alone. After falling behind 2-0 in the count to Jones, Nomo grooved the next pitch and watched it sail deep into the left-field stands to give the Braves a 3-1 lead.
Glavine couldn't hold it as the Dodgers went ahead in the fourth when Grissom had an RBI single and Green a run-scoring double.
The Braves tied it up in the fifth with three straight two-out singles, the last a dribbler down the third-base line by Castilla. Beltre couldn't make a barehanded pickup and Chipper Jones touched home to make it 4-4.
Notes: Ligtenberg's three-inning stint was the longest of his major league career. ... Sheffield had gone 81 at-bats without a homer. ... Nomo threw 38 pitches in the first inning. ... Braves SS Rafael Furcal made his 11th error of the season.
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Dodgers 6, Braves 5, 16 innings 
