Forty years ago Friday, the Dodgers were about to finish off a homestand, and surging atop the National League West, having won six games in a row. The last three of those wins were against the fifth-place Braves, and Thursday, August 15, 1985 was the finale of a four-game series at Dodger Stadium.

Fernando Valenzuela started for the Dodgers, having won his last six decisions and only a few weeks removed from winning National League pitcher of the month in July. He also won the honor in April, and entered this start third in the NL with a 2.15 ERA, behind only Dwight Gooden (1.64) and future teammate John Tudor (2.07).

Valenzuela faced off against Atlanta rookie right-hander Joe Johnson, making his fourth major league start and pitching in his fifth game.

The teams exchanged runs early using the same template of a hit, stolen base, and RBI single. The Braves scored first in the opening frame, with Bob Horner driving in Brad Komminsk. In the second inning, Len Matuszek singled home Greg Brock.

Consecutive singles by Mike Marshall, Matuszek, and Mike Scioscia in the fourth inning gave the Dodgers their first lead.

But then a wild pitch by Valenzuela in the fifth inning tied the game, and Dale Murphy untied it with a two-run home run. For Murphy, the two-time MVP, this was his NL-leading 31st home run, three ahead of Pedro Guerrero, who didn’t start this game while nursing a left knee issue, but popped out as a pinch-hitter in the fifth inning for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the fifth but scored only once, on a Marshall sacrifice fly.

Atlanta’s one-run lead remained entering the eighth inning. Bruce Sutter, who got the final two outs of the seventh inning, started the eighth inning by walking Guerrero. Scioscia bunted pinch-runner Mariano Duncan to second base, and R.J. Reynolds flew out for the second out of the inning.

That brought up outfielder Terry Whitfield, pinch-hitting for Valenzuela.

Whitfield only started 17 games all season for the Dodgers, and nine of those starts were in May. Nine of his 10 August appearances were as a pinch-hitter, and when Tommy Lasorda called his number in the eighth inning on August 15, Whitfield hadn’t played in a week.

“It’s a tough life, but it’s a life I have to live with,” Whitfield told the Associated Press. “But I do contribute. If I don’t get a hit or go in and play defense, I’m cheering the other guys on.”

Whitfield was an excellent pinch-hitter that season, hitting .280/.333/.480 with 12 RBI in 54 plate appearances. He hit two of the Dodgers’ three pinch-hit home runs on the season, and led the team in pinch-hit at-bats, hits, and RBI.

Sutter, the ace reliever and former Cy Young Award winner who would one day be elected to the Hall of Fame, was in the first season of six-year deal. That contract made Sutter one of the highest-paid players in the sport, and also included what amounted to a 30-year annuity that was paid through 2021, pre-dating the infamous Bobby Bonilla deal by more than a decade.

Sutter played a role in Dodgers lore six weeks earlier in the season, when he gave up Pedro Guerrero’s record-setting 15th home run of June. That was a two-run shot that turned a one-run deficit into a Dodgers win.

A similar situation was presented to Whitfield, who also hit a two-run home run off Sutter to turn around the game.

“Light and happiness have taken a leave of absence from Sutter and his ballclub, the Braves, who had shelled out $10.125 million over six years to get Sutter to pitch them into first place,” wrote Thomas Bonk in the Los Angeles Times. “They’re closer to last place instead, and although Sutter is not the only guy responsible, he is the richest guy responsible.“

Tom Niedenfuer worked around a leadoff double in the bottom of the ninth to close out the one-run win. The seventh straight victory for the Dodgers was also their 22nd in their last 31 games at Dodger Stadium against the Braves.

The Dodgers widened their division lead to nine games over the Reds and Padres.

“There’s no way they can continue this hot,” Murphy said of the Dodgers, per Gordon Edes of the Los Angeles Times. “But then again, I don’t think they’re going to get much cooler, either.”

The Dodgers did cool off a bit, dropping seven of their next 10 games. But their NL West lead never dipped below 4½ games the rest of the way, and they cruised to their third division title in five years.

Home runs: Terry Whitfield (3); Dale Murphy (31)

WP – Fernando Valenzuela (14-8): 8 IP, 7 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts

LP – Bruce Sutter (7-5): 1?
? IP, 1 hit, 2 runs, 2 walks