Wednesday, August 07, 2002
Pirates 3, Dodgers 1
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Pittsburgh's Josh Fogg wouldn't allow the Dodgers to get a timely hit when they needed one. As a result, Los Angeles lost its lead in the NL wild card race.
The Pittsburgh right-hander pitched into the eighth inning and got home run support from Adam Hyzdu, Kevin Young and Jason Kendall to beat the Dodgers 3-1 Tuesday night and put them a half-game behind the Giants, who beat the Chicago Cubs 11-10.
“Josh gave us quality innings tonight, which we desperately needed from our starters,” manager Lloyd McClendon said. “He showed a lot of poise and kept the ball down when he needed to. He made some quality pitches after he got into some trouble.”
Fogg (11-7) gave up a run and eight hits over 7 1-3 innings in the longest of his 23 career starts, and won consecutive starts for the first time since May 6-11.
“I like going deep into games like that,” Fogg said. “It's probably the most pitches I've thrown all year, but the weather here is great and it's not too hot. So you're not dying out there like on the East Coast, where the humidity's high.”
Fogg intentionally walked home run threat Shawn Green in the fifth to set up an inning-ending double play — and got one when Eric Karros grounded to third.
“Green obviously is a great hitter, so he's the one guy in that lineup you're not going to let beat you,” Fogg said. “Walking him and getting a ground ball in the next pitch, that was definitely the biggest play of the game.”
Brian Boehringer retired both batters he faced and Mike Williams got three outs for his 33rd save in 35 attempts.
“The bullpen has been great all year, so you've got to turn the ball over to them,” Fogg said. “You feel a lot more comfortable when you've got guys like that down there. Every time we turn the ball over to Mike, we're still ahead whenever the game's over. He's done an unbelievable job for us.”
Fogg was locked in a 1-all tie with left-hander Odalis Perez (10-8) when Young drove a 1-1 pitch to left-center for his 14th homer. Young has gone 20-for-50 with six homers against lefties after starting the season 1-for-22.
Perez lost his fourth straight decision, allowing three runs and eight hits over eight innings — including Kendall's third homer leading off the eighth. Kendall was 0-for-9 in his career against Perez before the home run.
Hyzdu hit a two-out solo homer in the fourth, his seventh this year. The Dodgers tied it in the bottom half when Adrian Beltre walked with one out, took third on Mark Grudzielanek's single and scored on Alex Cora's opposite-field single. But they had only three more hits the rest of the way.
“We just didn't have any offense. We haven't done a good job getting runners in,” Green said. “It's tough to lose the first game of a series. We would have liked to sweep this team, but they have some guys who can hit the ball.”
The Dodgers stranded a runner at third base three times.
Left fielder Brian Giles attempted a diving catch against Grudzielanek in the second inning, but the ball struck him in the head on the fly and ricocheted toward right-center as Beltre advanced to third.
Grudzielanek didn't see Beltre putting on the brakes after being held up by coach Glenn Hoffman and coasted into third as Beltre, who had already rounded the base, went back. First baseman Kevin Young, who cut off Hyzdu's throw from the outfield ran over to the bag and tagged both runners, and Grudzielanek was called out. Cora then grounded out.
In the third, Dave Roberts walked, stole second and advanced on Paul Lo Duca's groundout. But second baseman Pokey Reese helped Fogg escape the jam with a diving stop of Green's grounder in the hole.
Beltre led off the sixth with a double and advanced to third on Cora's fly to right, but Perez grounded out to first.
“We just didn't capitalize on our opportunities,” Karros said. “I had one, but the reality of the situation is that we have to start capitalizing and scoring some runs. Hopefully we'll get things going. All we're looking for is results.”
Notes: Flags were flown at half-staff and a moment of silence was observed before Friday night's game in memory of Los Angeles Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn, who died Monday at age 85. ... Dave Hansen, who broke Manny Mota's Dodger franchise record of 106 pinch hits during the road trip, was presented with a Tiffany crystal trophy by GM Dan Evans and an electric guitar by his teammates — all of whom took park in the pregame ceremony at home plate. ... In his only other start against the Dodgers, Fogg beat Hideo Nomo on Apr. 25, pitching 5 2-3 innings and giving up an unearned run. ... Williams needs one more save to tie Jim Gott's 1988 single-season club record. Gott, who also spent five seasons with the Dodgers, is at Chavez Ravine every game, doing a between-innings trivia contest in which a fan is selected to answer a question to win a free soda for his entire section.
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Pirates 3, Dodgers 1 
