Homer in Ninth Beats Dodgers : Baseball: Two-run shot by Expos’ Fletcher off Worrell negates Butler’s blast.

It is the unexpected, and sometimes quirky, things that happen during a season that gives a team a good feeling about its chances, such as Brett Butler turning into a power hitter the season he turned 37 years old. Or Butler scoring from second base the other night on a wild pitch.

Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, Butler hit his sixth home run of the season, sending Pedro Martinez’ 1-0 pitch into the seats just inside the right-field foul pole for a two-run homer. And for six innings, it appeared to be enough for a Dodger victory. But in the ninth inning, with the Dodgers leading 2-1, Todd Worrell gave up a two-run homer to Darrin Fletcher, giving the Montreal Expos a 4-2 victory before 37,741 at Dodger Stadium.

It was the first time Worrell (3-4) has faltered in six appearances, having converted his last five save opportunities. He went on to give up another run in the inning, after Wil Cordero doubled and then eventually scored on a groundout, and walked to the dugout to a chorus of boos.

It is the first series the Dodgers have lost in their last four, and the first of this home stand. Before the series with the Expos, they beat the San Francisco Giants, two games to one, and the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1. Before the home stand, they took two of three games from the Houston Astros--in the Astrodome--where they hardly ever win. The Dodgers are 6-4 during the home stand and have won eight of their last 13 games, and they are not even hitting all that well.

“People say we have been flat or we’re not doing this or we are that, well we are in first place,” Butler said. “I think we are going to win this thing. The whole thing.

“(Third base coach) Joey Amalfitano came up to me after I scored from second the other night and said, ‘I don’t know if this is an omen or not, but the last time someone scored from second base on a wild pitch was when Kirk Gibson did it against Montreal in 1988 and that was the year we won the World Series.’ ”

Martinez, making his debut on the Dodger Stadium mound as an Expo, retired the first eight Dodgers until Kevin Gross connected for the first hit, sending a ground-ball single up the middle with two outs. Butler then hit his homer, following Gross around the bases but beating him to the dugout, high-fiving as many hands as he could find.

Gross allowed only one hit through the first four innings, but he had some exceptional defense working behind him during that time. Lou Frazier sent a hard-hit line drive into the gap in right center in the first inning that Raul Mondesi backhanded on the run, afterward crashing into the wall. And Rafael Bournigal made several good plays during the game, including a backhanded snag of a line drive by Martinez in the third that was heading through the hole.

But in the fifth, the Expos scored on back-to-back singles by Cordero and Mike Lansing, with the help of a wild pitch by Gross, which put Cordero in scoring position. After that, the Expos next opportunity came in the seventh, when they put runners on first and second with two outs. Lenny Webster pinch-hit for Martinez, and Gross struck him out.

Martinez pitched well in his six innings, holding the Dodgers to two runs on four hits and walking only one. But he left the game trailing 2-1, giving way to reliever Tim Scott (4-2), who pitched two innings for the victory.