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Wednesday, Jun. 21 8:05pm ET
Sheffield goes deep twice for Dodgers | |||||
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GAME LOG
HOUSTON (AP) -- Gary Sheffield hit another big home run because Dodgers relievers Antonio Osuna and Matt Herges gave him the opportunity. Sheffield hit two homers, including a tiebreaking solo shot in the eighth inning that lifted Los Angeles over the Houston Astros 7-6 Wednesday night. "You almost expect that from him (Sheffield) every time up," Dodgers manager Davey Johnson said. "And the bullpen, Osuna did a good job and you can't say enough about Herges." Sheffield, who went 4-for-5, had his third multihomer game of the season and 18th of his career. He has 23 homers, third in the NL behind Barry Bonds (26) and Mark McGwire (25). Jose Cabrera (0-2) gave up Sheffield's game-winner just hours after arriving from Triple-A New Orleans. Sheffield, who has three homers in two nights, scored four runs, tying his career high, set Sept. 16, 1995 at Colorado. "I'm just relaxed and I'm healthy, and when I'm healthy I know what I can do," Sheffield said. "I'm willing to pay the price and I haven't been playing stupid and diving for balls in the outfield. I know as long as I stay healthy, I can play this game." Sheffield's game-winning homer hit a left-field light post 406 feet away and careened out of the ballpark. "I've talked with some of the guys and we know we're the main guys on this team and we're supposed to do something," Sheffield said. "We're trying to win this whole thing. Sometimes it takes one guy taking the lead." Astros second baseman Craig Biggio knew the ball was gone. "I've seen him hit a ball farther, but that definitely was a bomb," Biggio said. "The way he's swinging the bat, you just close your eyes and hope to catch a break because he can hit anything." Herges (5-0) pitched three hitless inning to win for the second straight night. "Not much is expected of me, maybe that helps me sneak up on people," Herges said. "I know the league doesn't know me and I know that helps me." The Astros, whose 25-45 record is the worst in the major leagues, dropped to 3-16 in one-run games and 12-21 at Enron Field. There were five homers, boosting the total at Enron Field to 107 in 33 games, 11 fewer than were hit all of last season in the Astrodome. Houston starter Octavio Dotel, winless since beating Milwaukee on May 1, led 6-3 in the seventh before Shawn Green's sacrifice fly and Eric Karros' two-run homer. "We're playing a lot of young guys and young guys make mistakes and Dotel is younger than all of them," Astros manager Larry Dierker said. "He made a couple of mistakes with some pitches and then he threw the ball away at first. You can't do those kinds of things against the Dodgers." Glen Barker hit a solo homer leading off the third, the second of his career. The Astros chased Carlos Perez in the fourth, taking a 6-3 lead on Julio Lugo's two-run homer, his first in the majors, and Jeff Bagwell's two-run double. Perez allowed six runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. Dotel gave up six runs -- five earned -- and 11 hits in 6 2/3 innings. Consecutive singles by Mark Grudzielanek, Sheffield and Green scored one run in the first inning, and Dotel's throwing error on a pickoff try scored another run for a 2-0 Dodgers lead. Sheffield also homered in the third inning to make it 3-1. "It's nice to know we're good enough to take a good team to the end, but we've done it so much I'm afraid we're getting used to it," Dierker said. Game notesSheffield's other multihomer games this season were April 29 against the Mets and June 3 against the Angels. ... C Mitch Meluskey needs two homers to become the eighth Astros rookie to hit double-digit home runs in a season. ... Green has reached base safely in 66 of the Dodgers' 69 games. ... Jim Leyritz, obtained by the Dodgers from the New York Yankees on Tuesday, won't be in uniform until Thursday's game against the Astros. ... The victory was the 1,100th of Johnson's career. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Los Angeles Clubhouse Houston Clubhouse RECAPS Boston 9 NY Yankees 7
Los Angeles 7
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