Tucker Needs to Be Better Contact Player

In the future, Brave outfielder Michael Tucker might want to keep some extra contact lenses around.

Tucker lost a contact while attempting to catch Bobby Bonilla’s double to right in the seventh inning. He dropped the ball and lost his lens when he slammed into the padding on the right-field wall.

The game was delayed eight minutes while Tucker and his teammates searched for his lens on the warning track. They couldn’t find the lens, and Brave Manager Bobby Cox replaced Tucker with Andruw Jones.

Jeff Conine, who was 0-13 in the series, hit Greg Maddux’s first pitch after the delay into center, bringing in Bonilla for the winning run.

“[Tucker] said to give him a second to try and find another [lens],” Cox said, “but you can’t keep Maddux out there waiting.”

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Bobby Bonilla knew it would happen, eventually.

Bonilla entered Game 5 batting .067 in the championship series (one for 15) with no home runs and no runs batted in. He had three hits in three at-bats in Game 5 to raise his average in the series to .222 (four for 18). That’s not great, but Bonilla said it’s a start.

“I haven’t had very successful championship series in the past and this one wasn’t going that well,” Bonilla said. “So many people were reminding about that, I knew something would change soon.”

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On Saturday, right-hander Kevin Brown said the Marlins would have to “shoot” him to prevent him from starting Game 5 of the championship series Sunday. No shots were fired, but Brown missed his second consecutive scheduled start because of a stomach virus.

Brown was expected to start Game 6 at Atlanta on Tuesday. But after winning Game 5 Sunday, Manager Jim Leyland might start rookie left-hander Tony Saunders on three days’ rest in Game 6 and save Brown for a possible Game 7.

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SERIES AT A GLANCE

(Marlins lead series, 3-2)

* Game 1: Florida 5, Atlanta 3

* Game 2: Atlanta 7, Florida 1

* Game 3: Florida 5, Atlanta 2

* Game 4: Atlanta 4, Florida 0

* Game 5: Florida 2, Atlanta 1

* Game 6: Tuesday, at Atlanta, 5 p.m.

* Game 7: Wednesday, at Atlanta, 5 p.m.*

* if necessary