Dodgers Nearly Error Free, 7-2 : Baseball: Top of the batting order is effective in supporting Candiotti, who leaves after being struck in ankle by Padre line drive.

The zero wouldn’t die easily.

It clung to the Dodger Stadium scoreboard almost all night, standing alone for one of the few times this season.

The team that had committed 106 errors in 103 games threatened to make it through game No. 106 without a mistake.

It was too much to ask.

In an otherwise perfect evening, shortstop Jose Offerman bobbled a grounder with two out in the ninth inning to break the errorless shutout.

But that wasn’t enough to spoil a 7-2 victory over the San Diego Padres before 34,225.

Dodger starter Tom Candiotti, hurt often this season by a lack of scoring and defense, found himself in a rare laugher.

He pitched five shutout innings to even his record at 9-9 but was removed after being struck in the ankle by a line drive on the final out of the fifth inning.

“I couldn’t believe we got some runs early in the game,� Candiotti said.

His only regret?

“Sorry I couldn’t stick around to finish it,� he said.

Candiotti could hardly walk on the ankle after being struck, but the Dodger medical staff did not believe the ankle was broken.

Jim Gott pitched two innings of scoreless relief and Tim Crews added another before the Padres scored two runs during the ninth against Roger McDowell.

The only other medical concern other than Candiotti was left fielder Eric Davis, who left the game after he was struck on the hand by a pitch during the sixth inning. Davis will have X-rays taken this morning.

All the other Dodger news was encouraging.

They got 13 hits as the one-two-three punch at the top of the lineup, Offerman, Brett Butler, and rookie Eric Young, proved effective.

“Now we got three guys on top who can run,� Manager Tom Lasorda said.

Butler got three hits and increased his average to .318. Offerman had two hits, two walks and scored twice.

Young rebounded from a shaky game Friday night with two hits and another night of solid defense.

It wasn’t a bad night for the other rookies, either. Outfielder Henry Rodriguez got his first major league hit and RBI. First baseman Eric Karros had a run-scoring double.

Even catcher Mike Scioscia, who has struggled all season, added two hits and an RBI.

The Dodgers did most of their damage against starter Andy Benes (8-10), who gave up five runs--four earned--and 10 hits in five innings.

The Dodgers scored single runs against Benes during the first and third, then chased him from the game with a three-run fifth. They added two more during the sixth against reliever Jose Melendez.

Candiotti was breezing along with a 2-0 lead, having given up four hits through five innings. But on the last out in the top of the fifth, Benes lined a pitch off of Candiotti’s ankle. Candiotti got the out at first, but his ankle started to swell during the bottom of the inning while the Dodgers were scoring three more runs to give him a 5-0 lead.

It was a long night for the Padres. Their miseries started after the first out, when shortstop Tony Fernandez was ejected for arguing with umpire Ed Rapuano after a first-inning strikeout.

The Dodgers took he lead in the first and never looked back, combining singles by Offerman and Butler and third baseman Gary Sheffield’s throwing error on Young’s sacrifice to take a 1-0 lead.

The Dodgers made the score 2-0 during the third when Butler scored on Davis’ single to left, and they added three runs in the fifth against Benes, who had had an earned-run average of 1.93 in 11 starts against the Dodgers.