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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Los Angeles Dodgers' fifth sellout crowd
of the season didn't wave their rally towels in vain, thanks to
Eric Karros.
Karros hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the eighth inning,
lifting the Dodgers to a 6-5 victory Friday night over the San
Francisco Giants.
|  | | Gary Sheffield leads the majors in homers, but Eric Karros (above) led the Dodgers to victory with a three-run homer. |
"It was nice, just because of the way we've been playing and
the fact that we've been doing well of late," Karros said after
the Dodgers' fifth victory in six games. "The adrenaline was going
because we had a big crowd. I would like to think it was because we
were playing the Giants. But it was Rally Towel Night.' It was a
giveaway."
The Giants gave away a 5-3 lead after the Dodgers put runners at
the corners with a walk to Mark Grudzielanek and a single by Shawn
Green with none out against starter Shawn Estes. The
left-hander was charged with five runs and six hits in seven-plus
innings.
Felix Rodriguez (3-1) relieved and retired major league home run
leader Gary Sheffield on a popup, but Karros drove the
right-hander's 3-1 pitch into the left-field pavilion for his 26th
homer.
"I thought we were in pretty good shape after Sheffield,"
Giants manager Dusty Baker said. "Karros is a dangerous hitter,
especially in the clutch. He's been a thorn in our side, but that
was Eric's first hit off Felix."
A number of the Giants' recent victories have come in dramatic
fashion, including Marvin Benard's walk-off homer against Dodgers
reliever Mike Fetters on July 2, and Armando Rios' walk-off
three-run, pinch-homer off John Wetteland on Tuesday night against
Texas. This time, they got to experience it from the other dugout.
"You always want to be on the team that walks off with a win
like that, and you hate to be on the other side. It hurts," third
baseman Russ Davis said. "But that's the nature of the game. They
had the thrill of doing it to us tonight."
Matt Herges (7-0) won despite giving up Barry Bonds' 32nd homer,
which put him within one of Sheffield. Herges allowed two hits
during his inning of work and Jeff Shaw got three straight
pinch-hitters -- two on strikeouts -- for his 14th save in 21
attempts.
J.T. Snow capped a four-run sixth inning with a go-ahead two-run
single. But it wasn't enough for Estes, who received fewer than six
runs to work with for the first time in seven starts. The
left-hander, 4-0 during that span, entered the game leading the
majors in run support.
Dodgers starter Carlos Perez, returning from a five-game
suspension that resulted from a brawl with fans at Wrigley Field,
blanked the Giants on four hits through the first five innings. He
drove in two runs with a second-inning triple as the Dodgers built
a 3-0 lead.
But Calvin Murray led off the sixth with a bunt single that
triggered the Giants' sixth-inning rally.
Murray took third on a single by Davis and scored San
Francisco's first run on Bonds' sacrifice fly. Green robbed Jeff
Kent of extra bases with a running grab on the warning track in
right field, but Ellis Burks singled, Rich Aurilia followed with an
RBI double and Snow hit a bloop single that drove in two and put
the Giants ahead 4-3.
Bonds made it a two-run lead in the eighth when he lined Herges'
1-1 pitch into the right-field bullpen.
Todd Hollandsworth's sacrifice fly in the second opened the
scoring.
Perez, who was 1-for-32, made it 3-0 later in the inning by
lining a pitch into the left-field corner for his first two RBI
this season. It was Perez's second career triple.
The left-hander allowed four runs, nine hits and no walks in
seven innings. Perez is 0-2 in 11 starts since beating the Marlins
12-6 on May 20 at Florida.
Game notes
Fetters served his one-game suspension stemming from the
Wrigley Field brawl. The suspension was reduced from five games
last month. ... Perez has not had more than two RBI in a season
since 1995, when he drove in five runs as a Montreal rookie. He
tripled for the first time since June 1, 1995. The last Dodgers
pitcher to triple was Brian Bohanon on Aug. 19, 1998. ... Estes has
allowed only two home runs in 91 innings over his last 14 starts,
and only four overall. Last year he surrendered a career-worst 21
homers.
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