Elster Comes Through With Homer in the Ninth

Pinch-hitter Kevin Elster hit a two-out, solo home run in the ninth inning Monday night to give the Dodgers a 2-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks before 31,345 at Dodger Stadium.

Elster, hitting for Alex Cora, homered--his 13th--over the left-field wall on a 1-1 pitch from Greg Swindell (2-6).

Closer Jeff Shaw (3-4) pitched a scoreless ninth for the Dodgers (79-72), who have won four in row and are third in the National League West. The second-place Diamondbacks (79-69) have dropped three consecutive games.

Dodger starter Kevin Brown worked seven scoreless innings in his 13th no-decision, lowering his earned-run average from 2.71 to 2.63.

The right-hander has the third-lowest ERA in the majors behind Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox and Randy Johnson of the Diamondbacks--but Brown (12-6) doesn’t have near as many victories to show for it.

On Monday, Manager Davey Johnson removed Brown with the Dodgers leading, 1-0, on a run Eric Karros singled in during the fourth.

Brown gave up six singles and struck out eight while throwing 74 strikes in 103 pitches.

In the seventh, Adrian Beltre led off with an infield single and advanced to second on Cora’s sacrifice bunt. With one out, Johnson summoned Chris Donnels to hit for Brown in a textbook move.

Donnels walked. Tom Goodwin hit into a fielder’s choice and stole second, and Mark Grudzielanek grounded out to strand runners in scoring position. Then the Diamondbacks tied the score against Mike Fetters in the eighth.

Leadoff batter Tony Womack singled to right to start the inning, advanced to second on a groundout and scored on Luis Gonzalez’s single to right. Fetters retired the next two batters to end the inning, giving Brown his third no-decision in four starts.

Brown has given up one run or less in eight games that he has failed to get a victory, going 0-1 with seven no-decisions.

Arizona starter Armando Reynoso also pitched well in a no-decision, giving up four hits and one run in six innings.

*

The agent for catcher Todd Hundley, who can become a free agent after the season, is hopeful his client will remain with the Dodgers.

“Both [Chairman Bob Daly] and [General Manager Kevin Malone] have never wavered in their desire to sign Todd Hundley,” Seth Levinson said. “It has always been agreed that we would not begin negotiations until the completion of the season.

“Todd has made his desire to remain with the Dodgers unequivocally clear, and it is everyone’s hope that negotiations will ultimately lead to a deal.”

TONIGHT

DODGERS’

CHAN HO PARK

(15-10, 3.67 ERA)

vs.

DIAMONDBACKS’

BRIAN ANDERSON

(10-5, 4.18 ERA)

Dodger Stadium, 7.

TV--Fox Sports Net 2.

Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330).

* Update--Park, trying to establish a personal best in victories, has lost his last two starts after going 4-0 with a 0.84 earned-run average in his previous four outings. The right-hander is 1-1 with a 6.57 ERA against the Diamondbacks this season, and 3-3 with a 4.14 ERA in his career. Anderson has no-decisions in his last four starts.