Dodgers’ Piazza Doesn’t Let Up : Baseball: He hits another homer and drives in five runs. Ramon Martinez stops Houston on two hits, 7-0.

The cheers have finally arrived in Dodger Stadium for Mike Piazza, whose three-run, 400-foot shot Monday night deep into the left-field pavilion and a two-run single sealed the Dodgers’ 7-0 victory over the Houston Astros.

It was Piazza’s 15th home run, the fifth in his last six games.

And the cheers returned from a crowd of 48,436 for Ramon Martinez, who pitched a two-hitter in his second shutout of the season.

Martinez, who did not give up a hit after the second inning, pitched like the Martinez who won 37 games in his first two seasons with the Dodgers, 1990-91.

The two-hitter tied his career best for a low-hit game, the last coming July 24, 1990, against San Francisco.

And to think he almost didn’t get the chance.

Martinez (6-4) was told before the game that he was suspended for five games--one start--by National League President Bill White for hitting Charlie Hayes with a pitch during Martinez’s last start, against the Colorado Rockies on June 15. But the Dodgers appealed the suspension, which allowed Martinez to continue playing until his hearing in July.

“When I heard the news, I was surprised,� Martinez said. “But when I came here and I went out to the mound, I forgot about it. . . . I didn’t have a great year last year, and I want to come back the way I was before. Everything worked much better; I have a lot more confidence now.�

After the second inning, Martinez retired nine in a row and allowed only one runner to reach second base.

“He made some adjustments before the third inning and came out more aggressive,� Piazza said. “His fastball moves around a lot; it sinks, it cuts. I compare him to John Smoltz; they’re effectively wild. They’re up high, they’re down low. Ramon is hard to hit.�

Until now, Piazza has been recognized more by fans in other parks than his own. But when he was introduced Monday night before his first at-bat, the cheers were the loudest they have been all season, unless the introduction follows one of his home run performances.

“It’s kind of cool, and it’s a little flattering,� Piazza, batting .346, said about the fans’ reaction. “In my last at-bat, they were really charged up. I think it’s neat.�

Chances are that many in the crowd had heard about Piazza’s performance during Sunday’s game at Cincinnati, when he drove a shot deep into the center-field seats at Riverfront Stadium that might have gone 500 feet had it not been stopped by the seats.

That performance had Eric Davis shaking his head. “That guy is from another planet,� Davis said.

It also caused Manager Tom Lasorda to reiterate that Piazza might be the first Dodger to hit the ball out of Dodger Stadium. Willie Stargell is the only player to hit a ball out of the stadium.

“When Mike was 15, he used to hit these high fly balls, they were so high I used to think how strong he was that he could hit them that high,� Lasorda said.

And it also left Lasorda still talking about the strength of Piazza’s forearms during Monday’s batting practice, when he hit a ball nearly in the same place as he did in the fifth inning, deep into the seats in the left-field pavilion over the 385-foot marker.

Until then, it was a scoreless game.

With one out in the fifth, Jose Offerman, who had two singles and scored twice, led off with a single and stole his 10th base of the season. After Davis walked and Tim Wallach struck out, Piazza hit Mark Portugal’s first pitch for a homer.

Tim Wallach, who suffered a sore shoulder in the brawl when he tackled Hayes as he headed for Martinez, has been slumping at the plate. Monday night, with the Dodgers ahead, 3-0, in the bottom of the eighth inning, Wallach headed for the photographer’s well to try to catch a foul ball hit by Ed Taubensee. He caught the ball, falling headfirst into the three-foot deep well and landing on his back.

But Wallach got up and finished the inning. He left for a pinch-hitter in the Dodgers’ four-run eighth inning, which knocked out Portugal (5-3).

“I’m just enjoying this as much as I can,� said Piazza, whose five RBIs tied a season high. “God knows, they don’t last forever, even though you want them to.�