Pirates 6, Dodgers 4

Monday, June 29, 1998 | 10:04 a.m.

"If you're going to run me over, then run me over and I'll tip my cap to you. But he came by and slapped me in the head and knocked my helmet off," Kendall said after the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied from three runs down Sunday for a 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. "A couple of words were said and that was it."

The Dodgers had a 4-1 lead and runners at the corners after Paul Konerko's one-out RBI single in the sixth chased Pirates starter Jason Schmidt. Then came a chain-reaction of events that led to a bench-clearing brawl and the ejections of Kendall and Sheffield, who was taken to the hospital with a cut left eyelid.

Pinch-runner Roger Cedeno was picked off first base by winning pitcher Mike Williams (1-0) and got himself trapped in a rundown long enough for Sheffield to try and score.

First baseman Kevin Young threw home, where Kendall tagged out Sheffield cleanly but solidly as he came in standing up. Kendall said something to Sheffield, who went right back into his face instead of returning to the dugout and letting sleeping dogs lie.

"Kendall took exception to the way Sheffield came in, and Sheffield took exception to what Kendall said," first base umpire Jerry Crawford explained.

Sheffield, who drove in the Dodgers' first three runs with a two-run homer in the first inning and an RBI single in the fourth, was taken to UCLA Medical Center for vision tests after the incident.

"It was scary," Dodgers manager Glenn Hoffman said. "He was bleeding from the eye. I just hope it's not serious and that he's all right. It was a tough way to lose. I just hope we don't lose Gary, too."

Dodgers starter Dave Mlicki retired 13 consecutive batters before the brawl. But when he took the mound in the seventh, he surrendered a leadoff single by Young and a home run by Al Martin.

Martin's second homer in 47 games ended Mlicki's streak of 28 1-3 innings without allowing an earned run - the longest of the season by a Dodger.

"It had nothing to do with the fight," Mlicki said. "Everyone probably thinks it was a momentum swing, but I just made two bad pitches - the only bad pitches I feel like I made all night."

The brawl seemed to wake up the slumbering Pirates, who avoided a three-game sweep and ended a five-game Dodger Stadium losing streak.

"The fight fired me up and fired everybody up," Schmidt said. "But we can't fight every night and come back and win. We've got to come out early and be ready to play hard every day."

Pinch-hitter Mark Smith ignited a two-run rally in the eighth with a leadoff single against Scott Radinsky (2-4). Smith later scored when Keith Osik, who replaced Kendall behind the plate, slid hard into shortstop Wilton Guerrero to break up a potential double-play grounder by Young.

Manny Martinez scored the go-ahead run when rookie third baseman Adrian Beltre fielded Jose Guillen's grounder and made a throw in the dirt that Eric Karros couldn't handle.

The Pirates added a run in the ninth on Guerrero's fielding error.

"We gave them too many chances at the end," Hoffman said. "There were some plays that we should have made and made mistakes. If you give them that many outs, they're going to come back and beat you. And that's what happened."

Williams earned the victory by retiring all four batters he faced. Rich Loiselle pitched two perfect innings for his 13th save. Notes: Konerko has 13 RBIs this month, 11 more than he had in 68 at-bats during April and May. ... The Dodgers named former third baseman Tim Wallach as manager of their Class A San Bernardino farm club to replace Mickey Hatcher, who replaced Reggie Smith as hitting coach last Wednesday. Mark Cresse, who also was fired during last Wednesday's late-night purge after 22 years as bullpen coach, turned down the offer to manage San Bernardino. ... With the loss, the Dodgers have the same 39-42 record they had a year ago at this time. But last season, they had to make up only an eight-game deficit to take over first place - not the 13 1/2 -game gap that faces them now. ... Pittsburgh's Turner Ward is hitless in his last 15 at-bats.