Dodger Defense Lays an Egg for Flamingo as Astros Win in 9th

Dodger defense, an adventure in the best of times, an ambush in the worst, claimed another victim Tuesday night: the Dodger bullpen.

And instead of celebrating a victory by a professional nomad, Tom (the Flamingo) Brennan, in his first National League start, the Dodgers were left to pick through the wreckage of a six-run Houston ninth inning that gave the Astros a 7-3 win in front of a crowd of 32,155 and gave Steve Howe a loss in his first Dodger Stadium appearance this season.

“I’ve gotten ‘em (losses) funnier than that,” Howe said.

“Once I had a two-run lead, two out in the ninth and nobody on, and lost. I’m still trying to figure that one out. “But you can make great pitches and still get beat. They hit three balls that must have gone 120 feet, but what can you do?”

Anything but what the Dodgers did in the ninth Tuesday, when they made two errors--the most damaging a throwing error by reliever Ken Howell on Bill Doran’s bases-loaded squeeze bunt--and failed to come up with the ball in several other playable situations.

“Anything that could go wrong that inning went wrong,” said catcher Steve Yeager, who was unable to collar Candy Maldonado’s throw to the plate on Enos Cabell’s game-tying pinch single. Later that inning, Yeager was charged with an error when his throw struck Doran while Doran was stealing second, allowing another run to score.

“Candy made a hell of a throw, it was low all the way, but all of a sudden it came right to me and bounced up,” Yeager said of the game-tying play. “I was down on my knees, blocking the plate.”

With Brennan and his exaggerated hesitation pitch allowing just a run on two hits through five innings, the Dodgers took a 3-1 lead into the ninth, third-inning home runs by Mike Marshall and Sid Bream accounting for the L.A. runs.

“But it was dodge ‘em in that last inning,” said Tom Niedenfuer, who had worked three scoreless innings in relief of Brennan but gave up a double to Kevin Bass starting the ninth and was removed by Manager Tom Lasorda.

“Everything they hit either went under a glove or over a glove. It seems like you have one game like that every year. I remember last year in Philadelphia, they had a bunt that went for a double.”

Pinch-hitter Jim Pankovits, the first batter to face Howe, grounded a single up the middle and under the glove of Dave Anderson, scoring Bass. Jose Cruz then blooped a ball into short center that Anderson failed to catch, but the shortstop recovered to force Pankovits at second.

The Dodgers were thus given a reprieve, but they failed to take advantage of it. The next Houston batter, Jerry Mumphrey, hit a slow roller to third that Pedro Guerrero juggled in and out of his glove. Mumphrey was credited with a hit.

Lasorda switched to Howell, who had worked in each of the previous two games. Cabell singled just beyond the reach of second baseman Mariano Duncan, tying the score, and Mark Bailey walked, loading the bases. Doran then put down the squeeze bunt that Howell picked up and fired to the backstop, Mumphrey and Cabell scoring to make it 5-3.

“He got the ball, whirled and threw a bullet,” Yeager said of Howell. “If he’d thrown it at me, it would have hit me in the face.”

Doran then stole second, and when Yeager’s throw bounced away from Duncan, Bailey scored to make it 6-3.

A third Astro pinch-hitter, Craig Reynolds, singled in the final run of the inning, in which the Astros sent 10 men to the plate.

Brennan, who came into the game with a total of 16 big league starts lifetime, made his last start a year ago April 22 for the Chicago White Sox, losing to the Tigers.

“It was an Easter Sunday in Detroit,” Brennan said, “and at 1 in the afternoon it was snowing.

“It didn’t go too well. They pulled me in the third inning with a couple of men on base.”

Lasorda said he first saw Brennan when the pitcher was with the Cleveland Indians, with whom he played parts of three seasons from 1981-83.

“I was watching on TV, it was against the Angels,” Lasorda said. “I said, ‘Good Lord, what’s that guy doing throwing the ball?’ ”

Brennan, who had retired all 10 Giants to face him in a relief appearance last Friday, retired another 10 Astros in a row before Bass skidded a ground ball between Guerrero and shortstop Dave Anderson for a single with one out in the fourth.

Brennan, who had only one previous big league at-bat, also laid down a perfect bunt for a single in the second, loading the bases with two out. Duncan bounced out to end the threat.

Dodger Notes Al Oliver, Ken Landreaux and Mike Scioscia were all on the bench Tuesday night; Sid Bream was the only left-handed hitter in the lineup against the Astros’ Bob Knepper. Landreaux, batting .115 (3 for 26), has the lowest average among Dodger regulars. . . . Manager Tom Lasorda, asked if he were concerned about Oliver’s recent play in left field--Oliver had errors in each of the last two games--said: “I think he’s done well.” Lasorda added that “a few people were too hard” on Oliver for the way he dived after Jerry Mumphrey’s double Monday night. “There’s no way he could have cut that ball off,” Lasorda said, “no possible way he could have stopped that ball.” . . . Steve Sax, who Monday night reaggravated the injury to his right ankle, took infield practice Tuesday and said he thought he was OK, but by game-time he was out of uniform. He will be examined again today by Dr. Frank Jobe. “What would you have said if I told you one of my players would get hurt taking a pitch?” Lasorda said, talking of Sax’s injury. “I said to Monty (Basgall) in the dugout, that’s the first time I’ve seen that in all my years in baseball.” Sax reinjured himself pulling away from a pitch by Joe Niekro in the first inning Monday. . . . The Dodgers are hoping that Bob Welch, who threw for 35 minutes Tuesday, will be able to rejoin the rotation by the weekend. Welch, who has a sprained ligament in his right elbow and has missed two starts, will throw again Friday before a decision is made on when he’ll return. “I was kind of timid at first,” Welch said, “but after that it seemed to be OK. I had to get past the fear of throwing the breaking ball at first, but I was fine once I got going. I threw a lot of pitches. If something was going to happen (to the elbow), we would have found out.”

Pitcher Orel Hershiser, lifted from Monday’s game because of a sore back, says the problem stems from a birth defect in his back. “I had it in Albuquerque and in the Dominican Republic. It usually doesn’t last very long,” said Hershiser, who was examined by Jobe on Tuesday and expects to make his next start. “I can’t extend myself. It hurts me more on the fastball than the curve. I throw my fastball just as hard, I just can’t get the location. I can’t keep it down, which is the reason I’m getting hit.” . . . Houston’s Jose Cruz, on Dodger rookie Mariano Duncan: “I’ll tell you, he looks like a superstar right now. He can run, field, hit and he’s strong.” . . . Dickie Thon, trying to come back from a beaning after a year’s absence, struck out his first two times Tuesday, giving him five strikeouts in two games and a total of nine strikeouts in his first 32 at-bats. In 1983, Thon struck out only 73 times in 619 at-bats. . . . Greg Brock will test his sore right elbow tonight, swinging a bat and playing catch for the first time in more than a week.