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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Gary Sheffield was thinking about ailing
manager Davey Johnson after the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied to beat
the Pittsburgh Pirates.
"I think it would have stressed him out even more if we would
have lost the game, but we won it in dramatic fashion," said Sheffield, whose RBI single contributed to a six-run eighth inning
that gave the Dodgers a 7-3 victory Sunday night. "Winning
ballgames will make him feel better and make us feel a lot
better."
Johnson was hospitalized Sunday after experiencing dizziness
caused by an irregular heart rhythm.
Sheffield was affected by the news perhaps more than anyone else
on the team. When Sheffield was a teenager living in Florida,
Johnson used to let him take batting practice with the New York
Mets when he visited uncle Dwight Gooden during spring training.
It must have paid off. Sheffield leads the majors with 31
homers.
"I was on the freeway, heading to the stadium, and I got a call
from one of the clubhouse guys that Davey was rushed to the
hospital," Sheffield said. "I just had to pull over and said a
little prayer for him.
"Davey's very special to me. He's like a father figure to me.
He came to visit me in the offseason, which showed a lot of
respect, and I give him just as much respect. I hope he recovers
well. All of us in this room are pulling for our skipper."
Jim Tracy, in his second season as the Dodgers' bench coach, got
the news about Johnson before leaving for the ballpark and held a
closed-door clubhouse meeting with the players before the game.
"I knew when I came in that he was putting me in charge and
wanted me to run things," said Tracy, whose previous managerial
experience was with Montreal's Triple-A Ottawa farm club in 1994.
"I think he knows that I know how he would have wanted it done.
And that's exactly what I tried to do.
"Anytime something like that happens within a family like this,
sure it distracts you. But I think we did a great job of staying
focused. I hope he hurries back. We miss him already. But the main
thing really is to try to make sure that this club is in as good a
shape as it possibly can be in when he does come back. That's our
goal."
Held to just two hits by Jimmy Anderson through the first six
innings, and in danger of slipping back to the .500 mark for the
first time since April 8, the Dodgers closed to 3-1 in the seventh
on Kevin Elster's RBI double. In the eighth, they pounced on a
Pittsburgh bullpen that had a 2.00 ERA in its previous 14 games.
Jason Christiansen walked Paul LoDuca and allowed a single to
Shawn Green. Sheffield greeted Mike Williams (2-2) with an RBI
single, and Williams walked Eric Karros and Adrian Beltre, forcing
home the tying run.
Todd Hollandsworth's two-run single put the Dodgers ahead 5-3,
and Elster chased Williams with an RBI single. LoDuca capped the
rally with a run-scoring infield hit off Chris Peters.
"Our bullpen's been fine," Pittsburgh manager Gene Lamont
said. "Christiansen is as good a lefty as there is in the league,
and Mike Williams has done a great job closing for us. Those two
guys have been great for us. Tonight they just didn't have very
good control, but anybody who could complain about the job they've
done this year would be crazy."
John Vander Wal and Wil Cordero homered for the Pirates (38-52),
who tied a season high with their fifth straight loss and are 14
games under .500 for the first time this year.
Terry Adams (4-3) pitched the eighth for the win.
Pittsburgh went ahead in the first when Eric Gagne walked Kevin
Young with the bases loaded, Vander Wal homered in the fourth and
Cordero in the sixth. The Pirates left the bases loaded in the
first and sixth innings.
Game notes
Johnson spent the night at the Tommy Lasorda Heart
Institute at Centinela Hospital Medical Center. Lasorda, the
Dodgers' senior vice president, was forced to end his 20-year
managerial stint with the Dodgers in July 1996 because of a mild
heart attack. ... Green, in an 8-for-64 slump that has dropped his
average from .326 to .287, does not want to be dropped in the
batting order. ... Dodgers 2B Mark Grudzielanek rejoined the team
after spending more than a week away because of a viral infection.
He played the last two innings in the field and struck out twice,
once as a pinch-hitter for Alex Cora. ... Pittsburgh recalled
Bronson Arroyo from Triple-A Nashville to start Monday night's game
against Darren Dreifort.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Pittsburgh Clubhouse
Los Angeles Clubhouse
Davey Johnson hospitalized with irregular heartbeat
RECAPS
Boston 5
Montreal 2
Houston 5
Cleveland 1
Detroit 6
Cincinnati 2
NY Yankees 9
Philadelphia 8
Toronto 7
NY Mets 3
Atlanta 6
Tampa Bay 4
Baltimore 9
Florida 5
Chi. White Sox 11
Milwaukee 5
Minnesota 5
St. Louis 2
San Francisco 6
Texas 4
Seattle 6
Arizona 3
San Diego 6
Anaheim 5
Oakland 0
Colorado 0
Chicago Cubs 10
Kansas City 7
Los Angeles 7
Pittsburgh 3
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