The Los Angeles Dodgers evened the National League Championship Series yesterday with a 4-1 win over the Phillies at Dodger Stadium.
It was a must-win game for the Dodgers, who will travel to take on the Phillies on their home field, Veterans Stadium.
The Dodgers scored in the first as Dusty Baker reached on an error by Ivan DeJesus and scored on Ken Landreaux's single.
For the second time in as many nights, the Phillies scored on a solo home run. Mike Schmidt's first inning homer Tuesday night was enough to give the Phillies a 1-0 win. Last night, it was Gary Matthews, whose blast leading off the second inning tied the score at 1-1, and ended up being the lone Phillie score.
In the fifth, the Dodgers regained the lead. With Greg Brock on first and two out. Dusty Baker walked and Pedro Guerreto hit a dying liner to right field for a two-run triple.
In the eighth inning, the Dodgers added another run when Bill Russell walked, stole second, and scored on Jack Fimple's single.
The game was filled with Philadelphia fielding miscues. Errors by DeJesus and Garry Maddox, both known for their fielding abilities, led to three of the four Dodger runs.
It was also a game in which both teams failed to execute in the clutch. Each stranded eight runners, and the Phillies grounded into three double plays.
With a Capital T
The Dodgers had trouble getting men home from third. In the fourth inning, with Russell on first and Marshall on third, a delayed double steal failed as Marshall was run down between third and home. Before the successful L.A. uprising in the fifth inning. Fernando Valenzuela reached third on Maddox's error. But Steve Sax grounded out to second and Brock hit a slow bounder to Mike Schmidt at third, who gunned down Valenzuela at the plate.
For the third time in the series, the Phillies chose to pitch to rookie Marshall, who is 0 for 8 so far, by walking the batter ahead of him. Tuesday night, they walked Pedro Guerrero twice to get to Marshall. Last night, they intentionally passed Ken Landreaux in the fifth inning to bring the rookie to the plate with runners on first and third with two out. All three times, Marshall made an out.
In the American League playoffs, the Chicago White Sox survived a 42-minute rain delay and a late-inning Oriole comeback to win game one of that series, 2-1. The teams play again tonight in Baltimore at 8 p.m.
LaMarr Hoyt, the junior circuit's winningest hurler in the regular season, took credit for the win, while Scott MacGregor took the loss for the birds.
Three straight singles produced a White Sox run in the third. In the sixth. Tom Paciorck singled, went to third on Greg Luzinski's single and scored on a double play.
The Orioles staged a one run rally in the ninth, with Cal Ripken Jr. singling home the O's lone score.
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