ATLANTA - Brian Jordan homered twice in his return to Atlanta and the Los Angeles Dodgers overcame Gary Sheffield's tying home run in the bottom of the ninth to outlast the Braves 6-5 in 16 innings Tuesday night.
Jordan's second homer was a two-out shot in the top of the ninth that gave Los Angeles a 5-4 lead. Sheffield, who was traded for Jordan during the offseason, homered with two outs in the bottom half.
Paul LoDuca drove in the winning run with a fielder's-choice grounder, and the 5-hour, 19-minute game ended at 12:59 a.m. Giovanni Carrara (2-0) earned the win with five innings of scoreless relief. Jesse Orosco picked up his first save since 1999.
The Braves, who already have played two 14-inning games this season, topped that with their longest game since an 18-inning epic against the Dodgers in 1996.
Los Angeles played a 16-inning game against Arizona three years ago.
In the 16th, Marquis Grissom singled, stole second and went to third on catcher Javy Lopez's throwing error. Kerry Ligtenberg (0-2) walked Shawn Green intentionally, then got LoDuca to hit a grounder to third.
Marcus Giles took the throw from Vinny Castilla, but was taken out hard by Green's slide. The relay bounced to first and Julio Franco couldn't make the pickup.
Jordan homered against Tom Glavine leading off the second, then Sheffield answered with a brilliant defensive play against the next hitter. Adrian Beltre tried to stretch a single to a double, but Sheffield nailed the runner with one-hop throw from the right-field corner.
Jordan homered again in the ninth, strutting sideways across the plate, pointing toward his family in the stands and glancing in the direction of general manager John Schuerholz, who dealt the popular player away.
Jordan didn't have long to relish the moment. Sheffield matched him in the bottom half with a 421-foot drive against Dodgers closer Eric Gagne.
It was Sheffield's first homer since April 4. He has been bothered much of the season by a sore wrist and even heard a smattering of boos when he came up in the ninth especially after Jordan's performance.
Andruw Jones hit a three-run homer for the Braves, who played their seventh extra-inning game of the season and third in five games.
Atlanta starter Tom Glavine gave up four runs in 5 2-3 innings, after allowing just five earned runs in his first seven starts this season. His NL-leading ERA of 0.93 climbed to 1.50.
Los Angeles had at least one runner in every inning worked by Glavine, who surrendered nine hits, four walks and hit a batter during a 109-pitch outing. The left-hander wasn't victimized by a bunch of bloopers, either in addition to Jordan's first homer, the Dodgers also had four doubles.
Hideo Nomo didn't fare much better. The Los Angeles starter threw 104 pitches in just five innings, during which he allowed seven hits, walked five and threw a wild pitch.
Nomo walked three in the first inning alone. After falling behind 2-0 in the count to Jones, Nomo grooved the next pitch and watched it sail deep into the left-field stands to give the Braves a 3-1 lead.
Glavine couldn't hold it. The Dodgers went ahead in the fourth when Grissom had an RBI single and Green a run-scoring double.
The Braves tied it up in the fifth with three straight two-out singles, the last a dribbler down the third-base line by Castilla. Beltre couldn't make a bare-handed pickup and Chipper Jones touched home to make it 4-4.
Notes: Sheffield had gone 81 at-bats without a homer. ... Nomo threw 38 pitches in the first inning. ... Gagne blew his first save of the season after converting 10 in a row. ... Paul LoDuca had an RBI double in the first but a more painful moment in the seventh. Marcus Giles' backswing caught the L.A. catcher in the side of his protective helmet. LoDuca was temporarily stunned but remained in the game after a visit from the trainer. ... Furcal made his 11th error of the season.
Friday
February 21st, 2025
6:45PM
