Dodgers Making a Move : Baseball: They pull within seven games of Reds by scoring five runs in the first on way to a 10-3 victory at Cincinnati.

CINCINNATI —  The Dodgers didn’t simply beat the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night, they did it in 23 minutes, which is about the amount of time skeptics thought they would remain in the pennant race after the All-Star break.

By the time the Reds had their first chance to bat, the Dodgers had already scored five runs against all-star pitcher Jack Armstrong on a 390-foot drive, a 50-foot bouncer, two singles, two walks, two ground balls and a passed ball.

With Dodger ace Ramon Martinez pitching, it was baseball’s version of sudden death. The first-place Reds crumbled under more five more runs, 11 more hits and thousands of boos in losing, 10-3, before 30,891 at Riverfront Stadium.

“We are coming together at the right time, and everybody can feel it,” Kal Daniels said in a usually sedate clubhouse where players were actually laughing out loud and singing in the shower. “We don’t care who is taking us seriously. We know we have a chance to make a serious move, and we are ready to make it.”

Daniels’ 16th homer and three runs scored helped the Dodgers win their second consecutive game here after dropping the opener of this three-game series. They have pulled within seven games of the Reds for only the second time since May 11, and trail the second-place San Francisco Giants by 2 1/2 games.

“What did I tell you?” said Alfredo Griffin, whose error cost the Dodgers a 1-0 loss in the series opener. “We win two more games and that first loss is history, right? This is getting fun.”

And it’s getting serious. When the Giants arrive at Riverfront Stadium today for the opener of a four-game showdown against the Reds, their manager, Roger Craig, will find a note in a yellow envelope on his desk. It was written by Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda.

It reads: “We did our job. Now you do yours.”

With 53 games remaining, the Dodgers’ next job is to remain intense for a four-game series at last-place Atlanta beginning today. In their only other trip there this year, they played as if asleep, losing two out of three games.

“These four games in Atlanta could be the key to our season,” Mike Scioscia said. “The way we played Atlanta the first time was the way we played many, many games in the first half of the season. We beat ourselves. We can’t do that anymore. We have to make teams beat us.”

The Reds, who have lost 13 out of 17 games, appeared both physically and emotionally unable to beat the Dodgers Thursday.

They sat through a 54-minute pregame meeting with Manager Lou Piniella, then watched their ace Armstrong leave the game after 37 pitches in 21 minutes.

“For us to come out against a team’s best pitcher and score five runs, that is tough to rebound from, I don’t care if you are in first or last place,” Daniels said.

Added Chris Gwynn: “Earlier in the season, when everything was going their way, the Reds might have come back from that. But now you can tell, it’s time for them to dig deep.”

It became Armstrong’s fifth loss in six starts. He is still searching for his first win since he was the National League starter in the All-Star game July 10.

Martinez, traveling in a different direction, is 6-0 since his All-Star game appearance. He scattered six hits in eight innings with 10 strikeouts to win his sixth consecutive start and improve to 15-4.

“Amazing,” Lasorda said of Martinez, who was told this spring that Lasorda thought he would win 15 games.

“He read my mind,” Martinez admitted Thursday. “Because I also had a goal of 15 games.”

Said Lasorda: “I didn’t say just 15 games. I never said he couldn’t win more.”

Martinez won this one without a sweat, beginning when Armstrong allowed leadoff hitter Lenny Harris to bounce a single past third base and into left field.

Moments later, on Armstrong’s full-count fastball to Gibson, the Reds fell behind, 2-0, when Gibson lined the ball over the right-field fence. Gibson, who is batting .500 in his last five games with nine runs scored, later added an RBI single to improve his average to .299.

Daniels then coaxed a walk, moved to second when catcher Joe Oliver missed a pitch, and scored on Eddie Murray’s RBI single. Murray later added another run-scoring single to give him 23 RBIs in his last 19 games, during which he is hitting .432.

A walk and two grounders later, Griffin singled in one run and Martinez hit a high bouncer to shortstop that scored another run. Rick Mahler replaced Armstrong, and the Dodgers’ ensuing runs meant little.

“The type of pitcher Martinez has proven to be, all he needs is one run,” Harris said. “He’s been pitching like a Cy Young winner all year.”

With every game he grows closer to that level, as he has finally tied the New York Mets’ Frank Viola for the league lead in wins. He leads the league in strikeouts with 174, and complete games with eight. He is fourth in the league with a 2.79 earned-run average.

“I feel so proud of myself just to get my goal of 15 wins,” Martinez said. “I don’t know about 20 wins. I don’t even want to think about it.”

Dodger Notes

Jay Howell pitched a scoreless ninth inning in his first appearance since Aug. 1. He said his swollen left knee felt OK, but he won’t know the true impact of the outing until today. “It’s not going to go away overnight,” Howell said. “Every day we’ll have to see how it feels.” . . . Alfredo Griffin had three hits, nearly half of his total hits since injuring his eye in a July 21 bar fight in Pittsburgh. He entered the game with a .189 average since then, but improved it to .244. . . . Pat Perry felt good after throwing off a mound for 20 minutes before the game, and said he hoped to pitch a simulated game this weekend in Atlanta. The disabled relief pitcher said his velocity was good, and hoped to pitch on a minor league rehabilitation assignment if the simulated game is consistent with Thursday’s performance.