DODGERS SOAR ON SIX-RUN RALLY BOGAR'S PINCH-HIT HR HUMBLES HOUSTON IN 10TH DODGERS 9, HOUSTON 8.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

HOUSTON - The Dodgers have been resilient all season, through injuries, through losses and, lately, through Eric Gagne's brutal outings.

They added another piece of granite to their never-say-die attitude with another remarkable comeback, rallying from five runs down to stun the Houston Astros 9-8 in ten innings Sunday and salvage the finale of a three-game series at Enron Field.

In as unlikely a win as can be, Tim Bogar provided the biggest hit. On the disabled list most of the season and limited to eight at-bats, his pinch-hit solo homer with two outs in the 10th off reliever Octavio Dotel broke an 8-8 tie. It was Bogar's first hit of the season.

Jeff Shaw capped a brilliant day for the bullpen by pitching a scoreless 10th for his league-leading 17th save in 18 chances. Six Dodgers relievers band-aided Gagne's awful outing with 7 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Mike Fetters (2-1) got redemption for a Friday loss with 1 1/3 innings of relief.

``It's a good feeling to finally help out this team.'' said Bogar, who played for the Astros last season. ``I thought I was going to be able to help this team a lot more. I had the early injury (hamstring pull) and I really kind of feel like dead weight. I finally caught a ball and helped the team win a game, so it's a pretty good feeling.''

Of course, the comeback doesn't mask what's happened to Gagne, once the rising star of the Dodgers' minor-league system. The coaching staff thought he was tipping pitches, so they worked to rectify that. As it turns out the culprit is plain 'ol lousy pitching.

Gagne, who already had his share of miserable outings, was shelled and embarrassed as he allowed a career-high eight earned runs, including a pair of homers to Vinny Castilla, in a career-low 2 2/3 innings.

``I got in trouble and I started thinking too much,'' Gagne said. ``Maybe I'm not focused on every single pitch like I should be. Maybe I was thinking too much about tipping pitches instead of thinking about the pitches I had to make.''

Gagne has lasted 10 2/3 innings and yielded 21 runs (15 earned) in his last three starts. He left those games with the Dodgers trailing 6-3, 8-3 and 8-3. Remarkably, he hasn't been involved in the decision in any of those.

``It's another situation we're going to have to sit down and take a look at,'' Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said. ``Up to the first home run Castilla hit, he was very aggressive. I know it was very early in the game, but he was aggressive and he was making pitches. He was throwing his curve ball and his changeup for strikes. When Vinny hit the home run off of him, he completely altered his course. He lost his aggression. He was completely missing his spots. He started rushing, and as a result, his changeup got harder.''

Gagne left after Castilla ripped an opposite-field grand slam in the third inning. The Dodgers chipped away with two runs in the fifth and two more in the seventh on Shawn Green's 13th homer to pull within 8-7, and they got the equalizer despite themselves in the eighth.

With runners on second and third and none out, Paul Lo Duca grounded to first. Jeff Bagwell fielded the ball, stepped on first and threw to second, where Dave Hansen wandered off the bag. Chad Kreuter, on third, broke for home and was tagged out as shortstop Julio Lugo threw to catcher Tony Eusebio. However, the Dodgers tied it on Tom Goodwin's infield single, which scored Hansen to tie it 8-8. It was Goodwin's fifth hit, a career high, and he added a pair of stolen bases.

``For this club to come back and do this, and we've done it three times now in the course of about the last five or six days ... these are games we may look to and, if we're fortunate enough to make it to the destination we hope to make it to, today's game is another one you can add to that list,'' Tracy said. ``It was just a phenomenal performance from our entire baseball team.''

It is, perhaps, the swing in momentum the Dodgers needed in the worst way as they head into a pivotal four-game series at National League West-leading Arizona. Even with the win, the Dodgers are playing exactly like a team that is 10-17 on the road, readying to face a club on a nine- game winning streak.

``I think it's really huge. I think we sort of came in here forgetting about Houston and looking toward Arizona because we knew it would be a big series,'' Lo Duca said. ``It's really big. They're our rivals and they're in first place right now. It would be nice to win three of four, or sweep 'em. We can't go in there and play like we did the past couple of days, lackadaisical, or we'll get whooped because they're hot right now.''

And while the Dodgers continue to wallow in mediocrity on the road, the Diamondbacks lead them in the division by three games. Arizona leads Colorado by six games, and San Diego and San Francisco by seven games.

``It's important, there's no question about it,'' Tracy said. ``Is it life or death? No. But is it important to play well in that series? Yes, it is. I've been talking about what a great job we've done of not digging a big hole for ourselves to have to climb out of. We're in a situation where if we can play well in that series, we won't put ourselves in that position. But if we don't, then we're digging a little bit of a hole for ourselves.''

DODGERS vs. ARIZONA

Time: 7:05 p.m., at Bank One Ballpark.

TV/Radio: Fox Sports Net 2; 1150-AM, 1330-AM (Spanish)

Matchup: No one exemplifies the Dodgers' road woes like RH Chan Ho Park (6-4, 2.78 ERA), who is near-spotless at home but hasn't won on the road, where he is 0-3 with a 4.13 ERA. He's third in the league in opponents' batting average at .199 but opponents are batting .240 against him away from Dodger Stadium. Diamondbacks RH Armando Reynoso (1-4, 5.40) is opposite of Park. He's 0-4 with a 7.59 ERA at home, including giving up five runs on 10 hits in five innings in an April 12 loss to the Dodgers.

-Brian Dohn

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Dodgers pitcher Eric Gagne gave up eight runs in 2 2/3 innings against Houston on Sunday, his third consecutive bad outing.

Pat Sullivan/Associated Press

Box: DODGERS vs. ARIZONA (see text)