No Stopping Brown, Especially for Tigers

It figured the Detroit Tigers would have another awful experience Wednesday night against Kevin Brown, and things went badly for them again in the Dodgers’ 3-1 interleague victory before 13,716 at Comerica Park.

It also was business as usual for the Dodger offense. The National League’s worst offense had only four hits while continuing to lean on the major leagues’ top pitching staff, which has become accustomed to shouldering the load.

Brown (9-1) kept on rolling. He worked seven strong innings, the sixth consecutive start and ninth time in 10 outings he has gone at least that many, to become the league’s first nine-game winner and lower his league-best earned-run average from 2.06 to 2.00.

Many pitchers have benefited from facing the lowly Tigers (16-46), losers of six in a row and last in the American League in offense, but Brown has been dominant regardless of the opponent.

“They’re struggling right now, but you don’t want to be the guy they right the ship against,” Brown said.

“The results were good, but I’m not satisfied with the way I pitched. There’s lots of room for improvement, but that’s normally the case.”

Brown didn’t have his typical command and movement, but he improved to 8-0 with a 1.25 ERA in his last nine starts after giving up five singles and one run. He had seven strikeouts and three walks, increasing his totals to 55 and 11 during that span.

“Although it’s only June 11, his numbers and his stuff resemble what you talk about when you speak about a Cy Young Award winner,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “It remains to be seen where that goes, but right now it’s beginning to resemble that.

“But the thing that is striking about this guy is that he’s never satisfied. He’s always looking to get better. He’ll continually tell you that, and he’s not just saying it to you so that it sounds good.”

The bullpen also came through again.

Setup man Guillermo Mota gave up the Tigers’ sixth single in a scoreless eighth, and closer Eric Gagne was typically overpowering with two strikeouts in a perfect ninth. Gagne saved his second game in as many nights, 23rd in 23 chances and extended his major league-leading streak to 31 over two seasons.

The Dodgers (36-28) had only six hits in beating the Tigers on Tuesday in 12 innings, 3-1, but hot-hitting catcher Paul Lo Duca is not part of the problem. Lo Duca extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a fourth-inning single against Detroit starter Adam Bernero (1-8).

Lo Duca went on to score the Dodgers’ first run on Shawn Green’s sacrifice fly. Lo Duca’s streak is the longest by a Dodger since Brett Butler hit safely in 23 consecutive games in 1991.

Lo Duca also made a nifty defensive play in the third to help Brown limit the Tigers to one run and escape a jam. With one out, the game scoreless and runners on second and third after a double steal, leadoff batter Alex Sanchez tried to score on Brown’s wild pitch.

But Lo Duca backhanded the ball on a short hop as his momentum took him away from the plate. From about eight feet, Lo Duca threw to Brown to get Sanchez.

Again, Lo Duca steered the discussion to Brown.

“I’ve said it from Day 1: He’s the best pitcher in the NL, and maybe in baseball,” said Lo Duca, leading Dodger regulars with a .330 average. “Even without his best stuff, he still dominates.”

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Standing Tall

Comparing Kevin Brown’s numbers through his first 14 appearances this season to his numbers after 14 appearances in his first four seasons with the Dodgers, and his win-loss records and earned-run averages for the season:

*--* THROUGH 14 FINISHE D APPEARANCES Year IP H ER BB SO W-L ERA W-L ERA 2003 94 1/3 69 21 22 81 9-1 2.00 2002 57 1/3 62 29 21 53 3-3 4.55 3-4 4.81 2001 83 1/3 72 28 22 81 7-4 3.02 10-4 2.65 2000 102 77 27 20 89 6-2 2.38 13-6 2.58 1999 96 2/3 88 32 30 86 7-4 2.98 18-9 3.00

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Note: 2002 numbers are through 10 starts and four relief appearances. All other seasons are through 14 starts.