Dodgers Beat Cubs, 7-3, Go Ahead by 3 1/2

Fresh from their romp in the surf in San Diego, where they had swept three games from the defending champion Padres, the Chicago Cubs pulled into Dodger Stadium Thursday night intent on keeping the good times rolling.

Dodger pitcher Fernando Valenzuela tried to be an accommodating host, walking Cub batters at a free-pass-an-inning pace, a career-high eight walks in all.

But Valenzuela let the freeload go only so far in winning his fifth straight start, 7-3, before a sellout crowd of 49,516 to increase the Dodgers’ lead to 3 1/2 games over the Padres, who have lost five straight.

The Cubs left the bases loaded three times, stranded a dozen runners in all and managed just one extra-base blow in their six hits off the Dodger left-hander, who matched his 1984 total by winning his 12th game against eight losses.

The Cubs, meanwhile, couldn’t keep Pedro Guerrero off the basepaths. These days, no one can. Guerrero, who hit his 22nd home run, singled, walked, was hit by a pitch and scored three runs, has now reached base in 10 straight plate appearances. The big league record is 16, set by Hall of Famer Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox in 1957.

Guerrero’s batting average is now up to .322, within striking distance of league leader Willie McGee (.335) and runner-up Tommy Herr (.329) of the Cardinals, and his 50 RBIs are two more than he had in the first five months of the 1984 season.

“They (McGee and Herr) have come down,� Guerrero said, his eyes widening. “I’m going for it (the batting title).

“I’m not thinking about it, but the way I’m swinging the bat, anything can happen. I don’t remember the last time I felt bad at the plate.�

That feeling has filtered through the lineup as, for the eighth time in the last 10 games, the Dodgers reached double figures in hits, collecting 10 off Cub starter Ray Fontenot and two relievers.

“The guys behind me are doing it,� said Guerrero, who has been walked four times in the last two games and has 49 base-on-balls this season.

“I keep getting my walks, and (Greg) Brock keeps killing ‘em. I’ll take it.�

The killer Thursday night was not Brock, hitless in four trips after belting a grand slam and driving in five runs the night before. But the man behind Guerrero in the order, Mike Marshall, had two hits, including an opposite-field double in a three-run seventh that broke this one open after a two-run error the inning before by Cub shortstop Larry Bowa had made it 4-1.

Cub Manager Jim Frey, whose fourth-place team trails St. Louis by 7 1/2 games, was ejected by first-base umpire Dana DeMuth for disputing DeMuth’s safe call on Mariano Duncan’s infield chopper to Bowa that opened the seventh.

“It was a close play,� Frey said. “I thought he was out by a half-step.�

Asked if he thought DeMuth was making up for earlier calls that had gone against the Dodgers, Frey said: “I accused him of being intimidated by the other calls. We should have been out of the inning.�

For the first time in five starts, Valenzuela did not go the distance, Ken Howell coming in with the bases loaded in the eighth to retire last season’s MVP, Ryne Sandberg, on a force play. Twice before when the bases were loaded, Valenzuela had gotten out of it himself, retiring Keith Moreland on fly balls in the third and fifth. Moreland came into the game leading the Cubs in RBIs (he has 58 after his seventh-inning single) and had a .444 career average against Valenzuela.

“That’s the true mark of a competitor,� Manager Tom Lasorda, “a guy who knows how to pitch when he’s in a jam.�

Howell gave up a home run to Gary Matthews in the ninth but registered his 10th save.

“Because we won, I feel good,� Valenzuela said. “My only problem was my control.

“The last time I pitched (a 3-0 shutout of the Cardinals last Saturday), I had a stiff shoulder, but it’s not really bothering me.�

Guerrero doubled in his last two at-bats Tuesday night against the Pirates, walked three times and beat out an infield hit Wednesday, also against the Pirates.

Fontenot walked him with two out and nobody on in the first. In the fourth, Fontenot went 3 and 1 in the count before Guerrero drove a fastball into the pavilion in right-center field. And unlike after his last home run, which came July 10 in Pittsburgh, Guerrero circled the bases unencumbered by back spasms.

“This time,� he said, laughing, “I ran fast.�

The Dodgers went ahead in the fifth on singles by Steve Yeager, Steve Sax and Duncan, and the lead grew to 4-1 when Candy Maldonado’s ground ball went through Bowa’s legs.

Guerrero had singled in the sixth. In the seventh, after Duncan beat out an infield chopper, stole second and scored on Enos Cabell’s RBI single, Guerrero reached base for the 10th straight time when reliever Lary Sorensen hit him in the back with a pitch. Marshall followed with a drive down the right-field line that Keith Moreland dived for but trapped, two runs scoring to make it 7-2.

Dodger Notes

An envelope filled with shavings from Candy Maldonado’s confiscated bat was sent to Cub catcher Jody Davis, along with a gag note requesting that Davis remit $17 to buy a replacement bat. The note was signed by Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda. Davis had suspected the bat of being doctored after Maldonado’s home run in Wrigley Field July 14, but after cutting the bat apart, league officials said it was OK. . . . Ex-Dodger Davey Lopes, honored in pregame ceremonies, singled out three people for special thanks: Steve Garvey, Ron Cey and Bill Russell. . . . Greg Brock, whose curtain call after his grand slam Wednesday night was his first since Albuquerque in 1982, said that even after he’d been sent back to the Triple-A Dukes last season, he still clung to the belief that things had to get better. “Obviously, there are always times when you hit your lowest point that you wonder,� he said, “but even then I tried to tell myself there’s no way I’m going to quit. Until they give me the pink slip, I’m not going to quit. So many people have turned it around in this game.� . . . Pitcher Bob Welch said the turnaround in Brock’s fortunes came as no surprise to him. “I’ve seen my own self where I’ve been ridiculous and seven months later I’ve turned it around,� Welch said. “Greg had new challenges, and he met them. I’m very happy for him. You can see him, he even looks confident, and it rubs off.� . . . Since July 5, Brock is 10 for 19 with runners in scoring position.