Marlins Are Happy to See Brown Return

Florida scored five runs off former Marlin Kevin Brown, and Edgar Renteria’s RBI single in the 11th inning beat the San Diego Padres, 6-5, Friday night at Miami.

Charles Johnson led off the 11th with a walk against Dan Miceli (2-1), and pinch-runner Gregg Zaun advanced on a sacrifice. With two out, Renteria singled to right and Zaun scored standing up.

San Diego left the bases loaded in the 10th and the 11th against Jay Powell (3-2).

San Diego’s Wally Joyner and Greg Vaughn hit consecutive homers leading off the ninth to tie the score against Antonio Alfonseca. It was the fourth homer for Joyner and the sixth for Vaughn.

Brown, facing his former team for the first time, departed with two out in the sixth trailing, 5-3. He gave up a season-high five runs, four earned.

The Marlins didn’t hit Brown hard, but they scored on a double steal and took advantage of four walks and seven hits--including three infield singles and a broken-bat, two-run single by Gary Sheffield.

Only about 5,000 fans were in the stands for the start of the game following a rain delay of more than two hours. The crowd gave Brown a standing ovation when he took the mound at Pro Player Stadium for the first time since Game 6 of the World Series.

Livan Hernandez, who replaced Brown as the Marlin ace, gave up three runs and six hits in seven innings.

Florida scored three times in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead. Craig Counsell reached on an infield single, Renteria singled and Mark Kotsay walked before Sheffield drove in two runs with a broken-bat single.

A double steal scored the tie-breaking run. With runners at first and third, Sheffield tried to steal, and when catcher Carlos Hernandez threw to second, Kotsay scored uncontested before Sheffield was tagged out to end the inning.

Florida added a run in the sixth with two walks and an RBI single by Counsell.

The Marlins scratched out a run in the first on Sheffield’s sacrifice fly.

Wildness hurt Hernandez in the Padre three-run fourth. They sandwiched two walks around a double by Tony Gwynn to load the bases, and Joyner singled in two runs. Carlos Hernandez added a two-out RBI single for a 3-1 lead.

Chicago 6, St. Louis 5--Mark McGwire hit his 12th homer but the Cubs beat the Cardinals at Chicago behind a solo homer by Henry Rodriguez and Mark Grace’s two-run double.

McGwire also walked three times to raise his total to 30, tops in the majors. After Royce Clayton’s infield single in the ninth, McGwire sent a drive 362 feet to left. Rod Beck then got Willie McGee on a flyout for his ninth save in nine chances.

Houston 12, Philadelphia 5--Sean Berry drove in four runs and Derek Bell drove in three for the Astros at Philadelphia.

Bell hit a solo shot in the fifth off Matt Beech and Berry hit a two-run homer in the sixth.

Bell, who had three hits and scored three runs, is 27 for 50 (.540) in his last 11 games.

Phillie Manager Terry Francona and coach Chuck Cottier were ejected by plate umpire Jerry Meals in the fifth inning, when they claimed Beech’s run-scoring wild pitch hit the bat of Brad Ausmus.

Shane Reynolds (2-2) gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings, helping Houston to its 11th win in 13 games. The Astros have outscored opponents 47-18 in that stretch.

Milwaukee 5, Cincinnati 2--The Brewers finally found a first baseman to replace John Jaha. All they had to do was look across the diamond.

Third baseman Jeff Cirillo moved over to first because of a stiff neck and Bob Hamelin’s .105 batting average, and he made several nice plays and drove in two runs at Milwaukee.

Cirillo sent a two-out, full-count fastball from Mike Remlinger up the middle for a two-run single that put Milwaukee ahead, 2-1, in the fifth.

Bret Boone had put the Reds on top 1-0 with a 409-foot homer in the second inning off Scott Karl (4-0), who became the first Milwaukee left-hander to start the season with four victories since Ted Higuera in 1987.

Karl gave up one run and three hits and three walks in six innings.

Montreal 7, Arizona 4--Vladimir Guerrero hit a two-run homer and rookie Javier Vazquez got his first major league win at Montreal as the Expos ended a five-game losing streak.

Guerrero’s shot off Arizona starter Brian Anderson (1-3) capped a three-run third inning that helped Vazquez get his first victory in six starts.

F.P. Santangelo and Shane Andrews also homered for the Expos, while Brent Brede and Devon White homered for Arizona.

Colorado at New York--Rain caused postponement of the game between the Rockies and Mets. It was rescheduled for Aug. 17.