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GAME LOG
LOS ANGELES (AP) – John Boles had enough confidence in closer Antonio Alfonseca to believe he would finish another victory for the Florida Marlins. He was right – but not before the right-hander gave him a huge scare. Alfonseca surrendered two walks and an RBI single by Gary Sheffield. Then Alfonseca gulped hard when Shawn Green drove center fielder Preston Wilson against the fence for the final out in Tuesday night's 7-6 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. "Before that inning, I said to Joe Breeden, our bench coach, `If Sheffield doesn't come up, we're gonna win,"' Boles said. "And he came up, so it was in doubt all the way up to the last pitch." The Dodgers made it 6-5 in the eighth when Mark Grudzielanek greeted Dan Miceli with a leadoff single and Sheffield followed with his 10th homer. Charles Johnson gave the Marlins an insurance run with an RBI single in the ninth off Gregg Olson. Alfonseca got ahead of Sheffield 0-2, but the Dodgers' slugger worked it to a full count before lining a single left field that scored pinch-hitter Jeff Reboulet. "That was a great at-bat. That's the second-greatest at-bat I've ever seen," Boles said. "I saw Kirk Gibson hit (Dennis) Eckersley for the home run in the World Series here. But that at-bat by Sheffield was unbelievable -- that he could have that kind of approach when he was down 0-2 -- against a guy who was throwing hard and throwing sinkers." Alfonseca, who got ahead 0-2 on his last three batters, earned his sixth save in seven attempts. "My heart stopped for about four seconds, till I saw Preston catch the ball," Marlins first baseman Derrick Lee said with a grin. Lee homered and drove in three runs and Brad Penny won his sixth straight decision dating to last July, sending the NL West leading Dodgers to their fourth loss in five games. Penny (2-0) gave up three runs and six hits in six innings. The right-hander struck out five and walked two while pitching with a blister on his index finger -- which he developed in his previous start against St. Louis. "I figured it might be an issue, but I had to stay out there," Penny said. "It's not that bad right now, so I think I'll be fine by my next start." The right-hander, who has given up fewer than three earned runs in five of seven starts, escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth when he struck out Alex Cora and pinch-hitter Hiram Bocachica with the tying run at the plate. Florida opened the game with five consecutive hits against Luke Prokopec (3-1), who didn't allow a hit through the first five innings of his previous start. Cliff Floyd singled home two runs and Lee drove in another with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly. "Luke just didn't have it tonight," Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said. "He got his pitches up in the strike zone and fell behind early." Lee, who entered the game hitting .192, followed a one-out single by Johnson with his fourth homer to make it 5-0. "After Kevin Brown two-hit us last night, we were pretty hungry and we came out fired up tonight," Lee said. "The home run felt good. I haven't been driving the ball too much lately." Grudzielanek matched that two-run shot with one of his own in the bottom half, following a two-out walk to Tom Goodwin. It was Grudzielanek's sixth homer and first since April 8 -- when he hit his fifth in a span of four games. Mike Lowell, starting at third base for the first time since getting hit on the left arm by a pitch from Milwaukee's Mark Leiter on Saturday, gave the Marlins a 6-2 lead with an RBI-single in the fourth. He was 3-for-5. Green led off the sixth with a double, advanced on an infield hit by Eric Karros and scored the Dodgers' third run on a double-play grounder by Dave Hansen. Prokopec, starting for the fourth time in place of the injured Andy Ashby, was charged with six runs and nine hits over four innings in the shortest of his eight major league starts. Game notesRHP Giovanni Carrara, recalled Tuesday from Triple-A Las Vegas when struggling rookie reliever Jose Nunez was designated for assignment with a 13.50 ERA, made his Dodgers debut with three hitless innings. Carrara also has pitched for Toronto, Cincinnati and Colorado. ... Of Florida's 41 homers, 38 have been hit with fewer than two men on base. ... Grudzielanlek's home run was the seventh first-pitch homer allowed by the Marlins' staff. ... Prokopec has walked eight in nine innings over his last two starts, after giving up none in 20 2-3 innings during his first three outings. ... Floyd is 10-for-30 with 13 RBIs with runners in scoring position.  Send this story to a friend
| RECAPS Boston 12 Seattle 4
Florida 7
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