ShareThisBy DAVID LASSEN
Derek Lowe was on the mound. Brad Penny was in the batting cage. And Greg Maddux was being held in reserve - for use in the outfield.
When a baseball game is as elongated as the one played by the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday, a certain degree of improvisation is required. When it all works out, as it did for the Dodgers, who won 6-5 in 16 innings, it's every bit as entertaining as the more usual type of Evening at the Improv.
By the time the Dodgers won after 4 hours, 54 minutes, the teams had used 42 players, 15 of them pitchers, who threw a total of 268 pitches.
Not that the participants had any sense of such details.
"When they get to that point, you're not really looking at a clock," said Dodgers manager Grady Little. "You're not really looking at innings. And I actually went home thinking we won that game in the 15th inning.
"But I knew we had the last chance to hit."
Ramon Martinez took advantage, homering at 12:04 a.m. to give the Dodgers the victory. That made for an extremely short appearance for the Reds' Ryan Franklin, whose only pitch was deposited in the left-field bleachers.
It also made for a successful night (and morning) for Derek Lowe, who worked three innings in relief for the win - just three days after he was knocked out of a start because of a severe bruise to his glove hand.
Lowe volunteered for duty even though the hand was still sore, knowing the Dodgers bullpen was terribly depleted. By the end of Tuesday's action - in part because of a 15-inning game last Friday - relievers had thrown 30 innings in five games. (And that doesn't include Lowe's relief total.)
" It was only Elmer (Dessens left), and I knew he was only going to pitch two innings," Low said, "and so I said, 'I'm going to go down there.' And (Little) said all right."
Other pitchers were making other offers of help, because they were the only ones who could. Little used his last position player in the 11th.
"Everybody was willing to do whatever they needed to do, and what they were physically able to do, to help us get through that game," said Little, mentioning Penny's preparation for pinch hitting and Maddux's willingness to do whatever.
"He knew we were out of position players, and he's fully capable of going out to the outfield and playing if he needs to," said Little. "If you watch him during batting practice, he's one of our better shaggers out there. He runs everybody off so he can run balls down."
That wasn't necessary, in part because of Lowe, who was efficient enough - he threw just 23 pitches - that he'll still start Friday, as scheduled.
"Once you get past a certain point, which I believe is about the 12th inning," Lowe said, "guys are trying to hit home runs and get the thing over with. So if you can keep the ball down and throw strikes, a lot of times guys aren't really working the count. You can have some relatively quick innings."
That was just one reason way in which Lowe's appearance was, as he noted, just about perfect. He didn't have to field any comebackers with his tender glove hand, catcher Russell Martin lobbed everything back to him to minimize the pain - and he even reached base when he batted in the 14th, drawing a walk from Reds reliever Bill Bray. This was a source of great amusement among the Dodgers, who knew Lowe was protecting his tender hand.
"I looked hitterish," Lowe said. "But I wasn't going to swing. ? We were having a good time (after the walk). Didn't say a lot, though, because the pitcher wouldn't have been too happy."
When it was suggested intimidation was a factor in the walk, Lowe deadpanned, "Well, yeah. When you're hitting .094, you put the fear of God in people."
There was some question how much longer Lowe could have pitched - in fact, Lowe and Little were having that very discussion when Martinez hit the game-winner. Lowe was more than willing to keep going, though Little wasn't sure how much the pitcher had left. Thinking Lowe looked tired, the manager approached him in the dugout.
"He said he was gassed," Little said, "and he explained he'd been eating cookies early in the game. He'd been eating cookies all night over there. So he certainly wasn't as physically prepared as he would have been normally."
That wasn't going to keep Lowe from contributing, though, given the team's need, regardless of when he was next scheduled to start. "You worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes," he said. "That's always been my take."
It was an attitude that had a significant payoff shortly after midnight.
"Playing a team that's leading the wild card," said Lowe, "and picking up another game within our division, I felt it was one of our bigger wins of the year."
Not bad for an evening of improv, however improbable.
