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  Monday, Aug. 14 7:05pm ET
Brown allows 9 runs, gets only 4 outs
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

MIAMI (AP) -- Fans who once cheered Kevin Brown jeered with delight when he made his earliest exit in five years Monday night against his former team.

Brown lasted just 1 1/3 innings and gave up nine runs, five earned, as the Florida Marlins beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-2.

Kevin Brown
Kevin Brown, who's been bothered by irritation in a rib joint, is winless in his past four starts.

Brown, winless in his past four starts, received a cortisone shot in his right side Friday for irritation in a rib joint, but the Dodgers said the injury wasn't to blame for his poor performance.

"He told me afterward he didn't feel it at all tonight," trainer Stan Johnston said. Brown received no treatment after the game, the Dodgers said.

Manager Davey Johnson said Brown (10-5) will take his next start in the rotation as scheduled and might even be moved up a day.

Brown didn't talk to reporters. Catcher Todd Hundley said the right-hander had good stuff, but the Marlins said he wasn't himself on the mound.

"When you face Kevin Brown, you expect to see more," said Henry Rodriguez, who belted run-scoring doubles in each of the first two innings. "His pitches weren't sinking like they're used to sinking. When he's throwing that pitch, he's unhittable."

Brown, whose salary of $15.7 million is more than the Marlins' starting lineup makes, gave up seven hits and was hurt by sloppy infield defense. His ERA rose from 2.47 to 2.72.

The ace of the Marlins' 1997 World Series championship team didn't acknowledge hoots from the crowd of 8,345 as he grimly left the game with one out in the second. It was his earliest departure since June 22, 1995, when he lasted 1 1/3 innings for the Baltimore Orioles against the Boston Red Sox.

"Kevin was not Kevin," said Marlins manager John Boles, who managed Brown in the second half of the 1996 season. "This is one of the top two or three pitchers in the National League, and he wasn't right. We hit some balls well, but we also had some bloops and some errors helped us. All of a sudden we had nine runs."

Rodriguez drove in four runs, including a 451-foot solo homer to center in the sixth. The veteran outfielder, acquired from the Chicago Cubs in a trade July 31, had only one RBI in 10 previous games with the Marlins.

"I feel like King Kong now," joked Rodriguez, who played for the Dodgers from 1992-95.

Jesus Sanchez (8-8) pitched six innings and allowed two runs, both on a first-inning double by Eric Karros. Florida beat Los Angeles for the first time in seven meetings this year.

The Marlins, who scored only four runs while being swept last weekend by San Diego, scored four in the first off Brown.

Luis Castillo walked and Mark Kotsay singled for his first hit in 16 lifetime at-bats against Brown. Rodriguez doubled home a run, and another run scored when shortstop Kevin Elster bobbled Preston Wilson's high-hopper for an error. Andy Fox's two-out, two-run double put Florida ahead 4-2.

The Marlins added five more in the second. Sanchez singled, and Castillo reached on a throwing error by third baseman Adrian Beltre. Kotsay singled home a run, and Rodriguez followed with a two-run double. Mike Lowell's RBI double to deep center knocked out Brown.

The final run of the inning came home on a wild two-out throw by second baseman Mark Grudzielanek, the Dodgers' third error. That made the score 9-2.

"Brownie wasn't bad," Hundley said. "He was throwing 94-95 mph. Those guys are just that good. They weren't trying to do too much with the ball. They were just trying to put it in play."

Florida pinch-hitter Dave Berg hit his first homer of the year in the eighth.

Game notes
Brown's shortest outing was one-third of an inning Aug. 17, 1993, for Texas against the New York Yankees. ... Sanchez is 4-1 with a 2.45 ERA in his past eight starts. ... Marlins starters have a 1.64 ERA in the past seven games. ... The Marlins are 9-19 against the NL West. ... Castillo was thrown out stealing with Florida leading 9-2 in the third.
 


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