Daulton Lifts Phillies Over the Dodgers, 7-6

One of the best throws Kevin Gross made all night was when he took his batting helmet off and threw it against the dugout wall. At least that showed some fire.

It seemed to light one under the Dodgers anyway, who came back from a four-run deficit to tie the score in the seventh inning against the Philadelphia Phillies Friday night.

But then Darren Daulton drove a two-run homer over the 385-foot sign in right-center field in the eighth inning to give the Phillies a 7-5 lead over the Dodgers. It was the first time left-hander Omar Daal has been scored upon in three relief appearances,

The Dodgers came back with a run in the ninth inning before losing, 7-6, before 43,679 at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers, down 5-1, came back to score two runs in the fifth inning and another in the sixth, on a solo home run into the left-field seats by Mike Piazza. They tied the score in the seventh inning when, with two out, when Piazza’s single up the middle scored Davis from second base. Davis had singled and stolen second base.

By that time, Phillie starter Tommy Greene (2-0) was probably finished with his shower. He was relieved to start the sixth inning by Jose DeLeon.

Also leaving the game early was Darryl Strawberry, who was sidelined by lower back stiffness. He was replaced by Cory Snyder in the top of the fifth.

Gross (2-2), who hasn’t made it past the fifth inning in two of his previous four starts, didn’t make it past the fourth inning Friday night.

By then, the Phillies had a 4-1 lead; and Gross, who was held accountable for only two of the runs, apparently wasn’t happy when Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda pulled him for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the fourth.

With the bases loaded and two out, Gross hurled his helmet into the dugout from the on-deck circle when he was pulled for pinch-hitter Dave Hansen. The helmet ricocheted off the back wall and bounced out toward the field.

Hansen, who was one for eight as a pinch-hitter, popped up to second baseman Mickey Morandini to end the inning.

Gross gave up two runs in the first inning and and two more in the third, but the latter two were unearned because of an error by Jose Offerman.

Offerman has three errors in the past two games, although only one of the errors has cost the team runs.

In between the errors, second baseman Jody Reed went to toss Offerman the ball on a routine groundout but Offerman was still on his way to the bag. Reed turned and threw to Eric Karros at first instead.

But Offerman has begun to hit since the team has returned from its trip East, where he batted .059. In this home stand, he is six for nine, including a single up the middle that scored Davis for the Dodgers’ first run Friday night.

Pedro Martinez relieved Gross to start the fifth inning. He immediately gave up a double to Lenny Dykstra, who scored when Piazza made a bad throw to Wallach trying to pick Dykstra off third base.

But the Dodgers came back in the bottom of the fifth. Brett Butler doubled to right to lead off the inning, moved to third on a single by Reed and scored on a single by Snyder. Reed scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Wallach.

With the Phillies’ lead cut to 5-3, DeLeon started the sixth inning, giving up the home run to Piazza.

Before the game, Greene had given up 12 hits and five runs in three starts and 24 1/3 innings. The Dodgers had accounted for four of those hits and two runs in a game in Philadelphia. Greene gave up seven hits and three runs to the Dodgers Friday.