Orel Bests Reds In L.A. Return

Fan favorite Orel Hershiser, star of the 1988 World Series, made a triumphant return to Dodger Stadium on Friday.

Hershiser, back with Los Angeles after a five-year absence, pitched six strong innings as the Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-1 in their home opener.

"It was a great day for Orel," Dodgers manager Davey Johnson said. "It was a thrill for me to watch him work. He kept a good hitting team at bay."

The 41-year-old right-hander, who pitched for Los Angeles from 1983-94 and ranks 10th on the franchise's career win list with 135, scattered six hits before being relieved by Terry Adams to start the seventh with the Dodgers leading 2-1.

"You want to get off to a fast start, especially after what happened last year," said Hershiser, referring to the Dodgers' disappointing 1999 season. "We probably couldn't have written a better script.

"It was really like a playoff game for me, to pitch in front of a sellout, opening day, the bunting up. I really wasn't that sharp as a pitcher today. I was a battler, I made some big pitches when I needed to."

The sellout crowd of 53,223 gave Hershiser such an ovation when he was introduced while warming up in the bullpen before the game that he did something he rarely does he acknowledged the fans at that stage.

"It's a thrill, and it's a thrill to get it over with," he said of the home opener. "We have a marathon ahead of us. Enough has been made of me and me pitching the home opener. Now, it's on to the rest of the season."

Gary Sheffield had three hits and drove in the first two Los Angeles runs. His two-out homer off rookie Rob Bell (0-1) in the first gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.

The Reds tied it on Aaron Boone's leadoff homer in the third, but the Dodgers went ahead for good in the fourth with an unearned run. Devon White reached base on an error by Bell, took second on an infield out and scored on a two-out single by Sheffield.

The Reds loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh before Adams fanned Ken Griffey Jr., and the Dodgers broke the game open in their half of the inning, scoring six runs off Scott Sullivan and Dennys Reyes. The big hits were two-out, two-run doubles by Shawn Green and Eric Karros.

"I swung at a pitch that was up and out of the zone," Griffey said. "The guy made a good pitch to me. Those things happen."

The Dodgers have outscored the opposition 37-23 while winning their last five games.

"We're scoring a lot of runs and we're pitching well," said Sheffield, hitting .429 with three homers and nine RBIs. "We know the kind of ballclub we're capable of being. We can win a one-run game, or we can explode. That's something great teams have."

Bell, making his second big-league start, allowed four hits and two runs in 5 1-3 innings while walking one and striking out six.

"I'm happy about the way I threw against Chicago in my first start, and I'm not really disappointed about the way I threw today," he said.

The game was the first at Dodger Stadium since a $50 million renovation that was completed just this week. Among the additions are 33 luxury suites, more than 500 new prime location seats behind home plate, and a new warning track.

The Dodgers, the final NL team to play a home game, are 24-19 in Los Angeles home openers, and 21-18 since Dodger Stadium opened in 1962.

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