Dodgers Manage a Split

Mark Grace doesn’t have to look over his shoulder, yet. His first base job is secured when he gets off the DL list.

But rookie Brant Brown has made quite an impression since being called up from Triple-A Iowa as Grace’s replacement.

Brown went 4-for-6, with three home runs, in Tuesday’s doubleheader, which the Cubs split with Los Angeles.

Chicago lost the opener, 9-6, but took the nightcap, 7-4.

“I know what my job is and I’m just trying to help this team win as long as I’m up here,” said Brown, who is batting .417 (five hits in 12 at- bats with four RBI).

“It’s such a blur (the home runs). A couple of them were with two strikes and I was just trying to hit the ball hard and battle. If it was a good pitch, just foul it off. But today, I got a little lucky.

“I feel comfortable at the plate. That’s about all. I’m just trying to make contact, just trying to hit the ball hard. That’s all you can really do.”

Cubs manager Jim Riggleman said Grace, out with a strained back, is the club’s first baseman.

“That’s the only thing I know. What we’ll do with anybody else at this point ... it’s so far away I don’t get any real time to think about it,” said Riggleman, adding that it was a big day for Brown. “They were timely (hits) for the Cubs.”

In the Cubs’ first, first baseman Eric Karros made a fielding error on Brian McRae’s ground ball, and Brown followed with a single. Luis Gonzalez then hit his fifth home run into the left-field bleachers for a 3-0 lead.

Mike Blowers led off the Dodgers’ second with a single and scored on Tom Prince’s first home run into the left-field bleachers, which cut the lead to 3-2.

Brown’s second home run into the right field bleachers gave Chicago a 4-2 lead in the third. And Campbell’s RBI double in the fourth made it 5-2.

Brown opened the fifth with his third homer, again into the right field bleachers, for a 6-2 lead. McRae’s RBI single in the sixth knocked out Valdes.

Juan Castro’s run-scoring triple in the seventh cut the lead to 7-3. Karros added his 12th homer in the ninth.

Mike Campbell (2-0) allowed two runs on three hits, walking none and striking out four. He also had an RBI double.