Dodgers Waste Nomo’s Effort

MILWAUKEE —  The good news for the Dodgers was that, for at least a game, pitcher Hideo Nomo regained his form.

The bad news was, so did their hitters.

Nomo pitched a complete game here Thursday afternoon, rebounding from the worst outing in his professional career. But the Dodgers wasted his strong performance in a 2-1 loss to the Brewers before 12,389 at County Stadium.

Marquis Grissom’s one-out solo home run in the seventh provided the game winner for Milwaukee, which has won six of its last seven. After Jose Mercedes gave up one run and six hits in seven innings, closer Doug Jones pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, earning his seventh save and securing the Brewers’ second victory in the three-game series.

The Dodgers were confident after rallying from a six-run deficit in their 9-6 victory Wednesday. But the doubts about their offense crept back after their fourth loss in five games, which capped a frustrating trip.

“This was horrible, and I don’t think anyone in this clubhouse will tell you anything different,” third baseman Todd Zeile said about the team’s 3-5 trip. “We needed to win this game to feel good about the trip, so we come out and play like this.

“It was a pitiful display of offense, and we did a horrible job of executing all around. Nomo gives us a game like that, and then we waste it with our inconsistency again. It was just very frustrating and very bad.”

Nomo won’t argue.

In his shortest outing last Saturday, he lost to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, 8-1. He walked four consecutive batters, five overall and was charged with seven earned runs in lasting only two-thirds of an inning.

Nomo (1-3) was typically stoic after that game, but finally acknowledged that his control problems were concerning him. Thursday, he took an encouraging step forward.

“I didn’t feel any different today, but I was very conscious about my control,” he said through an interpreter. “From the start of the first inning, what I tried to do was get ahead, and stay ahead, in the count.”

He has struggled with his control since spring training, and the Dodgers were eager to see how he would respond after pitching coach Glenn Gregson helped him make adjustments in his delivery between starts.

He threw only 89 pitches, gave up two earned runs and three hits, struck out six and walked only two in eight innings.

The Dodgers said they were pleased with the effort.

“He made some good mechanical adjustments that really helped him,” Gregson said. “He had some nice pop on his pitches, he mixed his pitches and he threw them for strikes.

“Even that pitch to Grissom wasn’t bad, [Grissom] just went and got it.”

With one out in the seventh, Grissom hit Nomo’s first pitch to him barely over the wall in the right-field corner. He also drove in the Brewers’ first run with a one-out single in the fourth.

Manager Bill Russell wasn’t upset with Nomo--but he had other candidates.

“Nomo pitched a great game,” he said. “He threw about as well as you can expect him to throw. Nomo did his job; we didn’t get the job done for him. It was our inconsistency again, and we just keep doing this.”

That has been a familiar theme for the Dodgers.

They are batting .243 and have scored 77 runs--the third fewest in the National League. The Dodgers have scored fewer than three runs in nine of their 20 games, going 1-8.

Brewer right-hander Mercedes (2-0) wasn’t able to throw as hard as he’s used to because of a shoulder injury, but the Dodgers still couldn’t handle his stuff. Mercedes effectively mixed his off-speed pitches.

“We’re losing many close games, losing many games by a run,” said right fielder Raul Mondesi, who is batting .217.

“Our offense . . . we’re just not hitting.”

The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the second. Mike Piazza doubled to open the inning and scored on Jose Vizcaino’s two-out single.

Piazza, who went six for 12 with three homers and five RBIs in the series, hasn’t been among those struggling. After a slow start, he is batting .316 and is among the league leaders with seven home runs and 20 RBIs.

But too often, Piazza is working alone.