Marlins Defeat Dodgers

Discarded by the Angels last winter after he underwent elbow surgery, Bryan Harvey reminded them for the 42nd time how badly they misjudged his fitness to save games.

Harvey earned his 42nd save Friday night, when he pitched a perfect ninth inning to preserve a 2-1 victory for Charlie Hough and the Florida Marlins before 31,547 at Dodger Stadium. With one victory and 42 saves, Harvey has been involved in 73% of the Marlins’ victories in their expansion season.

Harvey said he no longer harbors any bitterness toward the Angels for letting him go.

“At first, when they left my unprotected (in the expansion draft), maybe a little bit, yeah,” he said. “But I’m happy where I am. Things are going good, I’m healthy and I’ve got nothing to complain about.”

The Marlins rallied against Kevin Gross (9-13) for a run in the seventh inning and another in the eighth, helping Hough improve to 9-14. Florida (59-82) still has a chance to match the 1961 Angels’ record for most victories by an expansion franchise in its first season, 71.

Hough said his first appearance at Dodger Stadium since the Dodgers sold him to Texas in 1980 was “really neat, a lot of fun. I was a little nervous walking out there, to tell you the truth. It was a fun game for me, but I had to work a little hard at it, too.”

Before Friday, the Marlins were 8-63 in games in which they trailed after six innings. However, they reversed that trend when Dodger second baseman Jody Reed’s wide throw to first on Brett Barberie’s potential inning-ending grounder kept the Marlins alive in the eighth. Orestes Destrade capitalized on that chance with a single to Reed’s right, scoring pinch-hitter Gary Sheffield with the winning run. Sheffield had led off the inning with a walk, was sacrificed to second by Chuck Carr and took third on the error.

Hough’s victory was the 211th of his career, a seven-inning, five-hit performance. Although he has struggled since the All-Star break--going 1-3 record with an earned-run average of 5.86 in his five previous starts--he overcame early problems and settled into a steady rhythm. He walked one and struck out two, running his career total to 2,282.

In the third inning, Hough was hit by a pitch for the first time in his career of more than 21 years.

The Dodgers scored in the second. Henry Rodriguez doubled, his 15th extra-base hit among 30 hits this season. Cory Snyder walked and Carlos Hernandez, in his first at-bat against Hough, dumped an 0-and-1 pitch into left-center field to score Rodriguez.