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  Thursday, Jul. 6 5:05pm ET
Three Dodgers go deep
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- With the exception of two home run pitches, this was vintage Kevin Brown.

The All-Star right-hander matched his career high with 12 strikeouts and allowed only four hits in eight innings as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 9-3 on Thursday. The Dodgers hit three more home runs -- by Adrian Beltre, Shawn Green and Todd Hundley.

Kevin Brown
Dodgers ace Kevin Brown delivers in the third inning against the Padres on Thursday. Brown pitched eight innings, allowing three runs on four hits while striking out 12.

The only mistakes by Brown, whose next appearance will be in Tuesday night's All-Star game at Atlanta's Turner Field, was a two-run, opposite-field homer by slumping Phil Nevin with two outs in the first, and Wiki Gonzalez's solo homer with two outs in the seventh that pulled the Padres to 4-3.

But the Dodgers piled it on in the eighth and ninth innings and won two of three from the Padres.

"I made a lot of good pitches, for the most part," Brown said. "I made two really bad ones and both of them wound up in the seats. With a little luck there, those balls are popped up or something like that, but they wound up not being an issue because the guys behind me did such a great job of putting runs on the board."

Dodgers manager Davey Johnson thought Nevin homered on a good pitch, a fastball away.

"That seemed to kind of tick him off a little bit. He was lights out, made some nasty pitches the rest of the way," Johnson said. "It was just an outstanding effort."

Brown (8-2) said it was a "terrible" pitch to Nevin, "not a very good choice. I gave them a chance with two outs to get a lead like that."

After allowing Nevin's homer, Brown, the Padres' ace during their 1998 World Series season, retired 16 of 17 batters, including striking out the side in the fourth and fifth innings.

"Going against Brown, you don't have the luxury of making mistakes," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said.

"That guy is always tough," said Al Martin, who went 0-for-4. "He made a couple of mistakes, but otherwise was unhittable. You have to be much better and play more consistently to beat a Kevin Brown than we did today."

He walked just one and matched the strikeout high he set May 25, 1999, at Cincinnati. His previous best this season was 10 on June 15 in a 4-0 victory over Arizona.

But the Dodgers broke it open with four runs in the eighth, including three that scored on left fielder Al Martin's error. Martin got a late jump on Green's bases-loaded fly ball, and the ball bounced out of Martin's glove as he hit the fence. Mark Grudzielanek hit an RBI double in the eighth.

Also in the eighth, Beltre was thrown out at home on a one-hopper by rookie right fielder Kory DeHaan on Brown's fly.

Beltre hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead and Green hit a solo shot in the fifth, his first in two weeks. Beltre missed the bag rounding first and had to come back and touch it after coach John Shelby hollered at him. It was Green's 13th homer and Beltre's eighth.

Hundley homered leading off the ninth, his 17th of the season and second in as many games.

The Dodgers hit four homers to provide all their runs in a 7-5 comeback win Wednesday night, including Hundley's tying three-run shot. The Dodgers, second to St. Louis in homers in the NL, went deep eight times total in taking two of three from the Padres.

Padres starter Brian Meadows (7-6) saw his personal three-game winning streak snapped as he allowed four runs on 11 hits in five innings, including both homers.

Nevin, who came in hitting just .197 since June 1, gave the Padres a 2-0 lead when he homered to right on a 1-0 pitch, his 18th. Ryan Klesko was aboard on a single.

The Dodgers cut the lead to 2-1 in the second when Green hit a bloop double that shortstop Kevin Nicholson misplayed, and scored on Hundley's single.

Game notes
Hundley's bat shattered during his fifth-inning at-bat and a long splinter stuck in a fan's arm. The fan appeared to be OK as he left with a security guard to be treated. ... Brown has allowed three or fewer earned runs in 16 of 17 starts. ... Eric Owens, the Padres' RF and leadoff hitter, missed his third straight game with a sore right hand. ... It was the first time in the Padres' last seven losses that a starter has been tagged with the decision. ... Gonzalez's homer was his third.
 


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