Phils Blow Another Lead

When the Los Angeles Dodgers produce their 2001 highlight film, it`s going to look like one of those epic movies where the credits at the end seem to go on forever.

The NL West leaders, despite all their injuries, are doing it with the full 25-man roster.

Pinch-hitter Chris Donnels delivered a clutch two-run double Saturday night and Hiram Bocachica set up the game-winning run with an eighth-inning double as the Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-6.

"It`s awesome because you never feel like you`re not going to be used," said Donnels, a reserve third baseman who had sat out the previous three games because of a stiff neck. "You keep yourself ready the entire time, so that when your time comes. It`s never a surprise, because we know we`re going to get used at one time or another."

Alex Cora singled home the winning run and Jeff Reboulet went 3-for-4 with a home run, sending the NL East-leading Phillies to their third straight loss after six consecutive victories.

Bocachica greeted Ricky Bottalico (1-1) with a leadoff double in the eighth and was sacrificed to third by Angel Pena. Cora then punched an opposite-field single to left on a 2-2 pitch, giving him the winning RBI for the second time in two nights. Dodgers reliever Matt Herges (1-1) surrendered a two-out, two-run homer to Marlon Anderson that tied the score at 6 in the eighth.

Jeff Shaw pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save in eight attempts. Darren Dreifort, trying for his first home victory in three tries, allowed four runs and six hits in six innings in his third straight no-decision. He also hit his sixth career homer in the fifth against Bruce Chen. Chen was charged with five runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings.

"The bullpen has been doing a great job. So when they pulled me I felt we were going to be able to get out of that jam," Chen said. Paul Lo Duca dragged his strained left hamstring to the plate to bat for Dreifort, but was replaced by Donnels when Phillies manager Larry Bowa countered with Vicente Padilla. "If there`s been one guy in this clubhouse who`s been hitting in some extreme tough luck, it`s been Chris Donnels," Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said. "It`s been line drive at this guy, line drive at that guy -- quality at-bats, but unfortunately, not a lot of results. But never in my mind has he ever looked like he was a situation like he was overmatched."

Reboulet`s drive into the left-field bullpen was the second homer in seven at-bats for the Dodgers` newest super-sub, whose game-tying, three-run, pinch-homer in the ninth last Sunday against San Diego was his first in 200 games since 1998. Dreifort narrowed the gap to 4-3 in the fifth, leading off with a drive into the back of the left-field bullpen.

It was his first home run since last Aug. 8, against Chicago at Dodger Stadium, when he became the first major league pitcher to homer twice in a game since Atlanta`s Derek Lilliquist in 1990.

Dreifort, whose three homers last season were the most by a Dodgers pitcher since Fernando Valenzuela`s three in 1984, has homered at least once in each of the past four seasons.

Notes: Dreifort was the second pitcher to homer against Chen. The other was Montreal`s Felipe Lira last season. ... Reboulet has 16 homers in 1,710 major league at-bats. His fifth-inning single was his seventh hit in a span of nine at-bats. ... Carlos Perez, on a minor league rehab assignment in Triple-A, allowed seven runs -- six earned -- and 10 hits in 4 1-3 innings for Las Vegas against Edmonton.

(Copyright 2001 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

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Author: AP