Dodgers Rally After Early Knockdown : Homers by Marshall and Madlock Knock Out Reds’ Early Lead

There were high-fives all around in the Cincinnati dugout after Reds pitcher Tom Browning knocked the legs out from under Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia with a hard slide, and why not?

Browning’s aggressiveness gave the Reds a 5-1 lead in the fourth inning, and was about to knock the league’s foremost plate blocker out of the game.

But just when the Dodgers had the black hole of last place staring them in the face, they responded with perhaps their most dramatic comeback of the season, beating Cincinnati, 6-5, before a crowd of 33,032 at Dodger Stadium Monday night.

Browning may have left something at the plate besides a crumpled Scioscia, because the Dodgers teed off with a vengeance.

Bill Madlock, who came into the game with three hits in 33 at-bats, hit a two-run homer off the left-field foul pole in the bottom of the fourth. Mike Marshall, who already had homered in the second, then split the flag poles with a tremendous shot that reached the chain-link fence behind the center-field wall on a couple of bounces, nearly 475 feet away.

Marshall took sole possession of the National League home run lead with 15.

That made it 5-4, and the Dodgers tied it in the fifth when Reds’ center fielder Eddie Milner couldn’t run through the wall. Milner got a glove on Mariano Duncan’s drive to right-center field, but dropped the ball on impact with the wall.

Duncan had himself an inside-the-park home run, and two innings later had himself a game-winning RBI, when he singled home Reggie Williams--who had singled, taken second on a sacrifice and stolen third.

The Reds knocked Orel Hershiser around for a dozen hits, but after Browning’s bunt single in the fifth, Dodger relievers Tom Niedenfuer and Ken Howell pitched 4 hitless innings.

With a 5-1 lifetime record against Cincinnati, Hershiser qualified as something of a Reds nemesis. He was 3-0 against the Reds last season with a 1.39 earned-run average.

But Hershiser, victimized by five Dodger errors in his last start, was gone by the fifth inning Monday night, done in by some Cincinnati hits that were artfully--if inadvertently-- placed with precision.

It started in the first, when Pete Rose slapped a hit-and-run ground ball down the third-base line after Milner’s leadoff single. A forceout scored Milner, and the Reds led, 1-0.

Marshall’s first homer tied it in the second, but with two out in the third, Max Venable grounded a double down the right-field line. With the infield shifted to the right side, Dave Parker slapped a single through the vacant hole at short, and it was 2-1.

Buddy Bell followed with a double down the left-field line, and when the ball rattled off the railing past Franklin Stubbs, Parker scored to make it 3-1.

It became 5-1 in the fourth, a rally that began again after there were two out and nobody on. And much of it was due to the aggressiveness of pitcher Browning, who apparently stole second on his own and beat Scioscia’s throw with a headfirst slide.

Browning’s next slide knocked Scioscia out of the game. Milner hit a ground ball through the right side for a single. Marshall charged the ball, barehanded it and launched a throw that appeared to have beaten Browning to the plate. But the pitcher’s hard slide cut Scioscia’s legs out from under him. He scored, and Milner took third as Marshall was charged with a throwing error.

Rose bounced a ball over the mound for another single, scoring Milner, and it was 5-1. Venable followed with a double and an intentional walk to Parker loaded the bases.

Hershiser got out of that jam, getting Buddy Bell on a bouncer to third. He didn’t survive the fifth as Manager Tom Lasorda lifted him for Niedenfuer after singles by Dave Concepcion and Ron Oester put runners on the corners.

Browning, the first batter to face Niedenfuer, dropped a two-strike bunt down the third-base line. The Dodgers elected to let it roll. The ball stayed fair.

Pitching with the bases loaded has not been what Niedenfuer does best--he gave up grand slams to George Foster and Jim Morrison in a five-day span.

But there would be no advance this time, as Niedenfuer retired Milner on a foul pop and Rose tapped to Steve Sax at second.

When Hershiser departed, so did Scioscia, with a slightly sprained right ankle.

His replacement, Alex Trevino, cut down Milner attempting to advance on a pitch that bounced in the dirt in the eighth. Rose, at the plate at the time, held up a hand warning Milner not to go, but to no avail.

Rose then took a called third strike from Ken Howell to end the inning, prompting a brief but heated argument between Rose and plate umpire Charlie Williams.

But Rose did not cross the line of decorum apparently violated by Steve Garvey, who was ejected by Williams last week, the first ejection of Garvey’s career.

Dodger Notes

Pitcher Bob Welch, who hurt his back last Friday while pitching to Billy Hatcher of the Houston Astros, was examined by Dr. Frank Jobe, who said Welch should be able to make his scheduled start on Wednesday. Welch’s left calf still is sore from the line drive hit by Montreal’s Tim Raines on May 22 . . . The hard feelings that existed between Dave Parker and Bill Madlock after last summer’s drug trial were nowhere in evidence before Monday night’s game. Parker, who named Madlock as a user of amphetamines during his testimony in last summer’s trial--Madlock was cleared of any wrongdoing by baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth--sent a batboy into the Dodger clubhouse to summon his former teammate, with whom he played in Pittsburgh. The two shook hands and chatted briefly behind the batting cage. “The situation last year, it’s unfortunate that it happened,” Madlock said. “A lot of people were involved who shouldn’t have been involved. You can’t cut off a lifelong friendship. Everything is fine. We knew it was, anyway, this is just the first time I’ve seen him.” After Parker was sued this spring by the new owners of the Pirates for breach of contract, Madlock spoke out in his defense, saying he’d always given a full effort on the field. “He (Parker) said he appreciated that,” Madlock said. “Will he come to my place for lunch? I’m sure he eventually will, because every time we go to Cincinnati I have dinner at his mother’s house. She’s a good cook, too.”