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Thanks to a doughnut giveaway for the crowd of 41,226, the Florida Marlins' latest win was especially sweet.
Jeff Conine homered and Luis Castillo had four hits, but an announcement of free doughnuts drew the biggest cheer Saturday night as the Marlins beat the Atlanta Braves for the first time in five tries this season, 7-4.
Under terms of Krispy Kreme's season-long promotion, ticket-holders were entitled to a dozen free glazed doughnuts because the Marlins totaled at least 12 hits. They finished with 13 -- a baker's dozen.
``If everybody cashes those in, that's a pretty big chunk of change for Krispy Kreme,'' Conine said.
Should every fan collect, that's 494,712 doughnuts that would normally cost $226,330.74. It's the first time the Marlins have triggered the giveaway.
``That guy will be baking doughnuts all week,'' manager Jack McKeon said.
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The Marlins fattened up mostly on Mike Hampton (0-2), who found himself behind
4-0 after facing six batters. Mike Lowell singled home Florida's first run,
and a hustling Castillo scored from third on a foulout to second baseman Marcus
Giles down the right-field line.
Conine then hit a two-run homer, his first. With one swing he tripled his RBI total for the season to three.
``I haven't felt that bad the past five or six games,'' Conine said. ``I've settled into stance No. 67-B. I'm going to stay with that one for a while, and hopefully it'll work out.''
Castillo came into the game in a 1-for-15 slump himself, but he snapped out of it with a hit in his first four at-bats, all against Hampton. Castillo improved his lifetime average against the left-hander to .424 (14-for-33).
Brad Penny (2-1) allowed two runs in six innings and tied Ryan Dempster's franchise record of 42 victories.
``We'll see if we can't get him a dozen doughnuts,'' McKeon said.
Joking aside, the Marlins were happy to get their first win over the Braves after four losses.
AP - Apr 24, 9:58 pm EDT
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``Four in a row -- it gets a little annoying,'' Conine said. ``You want to stop
that as quickly as you can.''
Division-leading Florida, 11-1 when not playing the Braves, moved three games ahead of them in the NL East.
Atlanta actually out-hit Florida 14-13, including Andruw Jones' fourth homer. But his inning-ending double play killed a rally in the seventh when the Braves trailed 4-3, and Rafael Furcal hit into a double play with two on to end the eighth.
The Braves also stranded 10.
``We got people on base, but we didn't take advantage,'' Jones said.
Florida scored three times in the seventh with five consecutive singles. One run scored on a passed ball by Johnny Estrada, and Antonio Alfonseca's wild pitch made it 7-3.
``Those were two balls where the bottom dropped out,'' Braves manager Bobby Cox said. ``That's tough for a catcher to catch.''
Hampton departed with two out in the inning. He was charged with six runs, hiking his ERA to 8.41.
Florida's Wil Cordero went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, hiking his average from .100 to .174. Armando Benitez, who began the weekend tied for the major league lead in saves, worked the ninth to improve to 9-for-9.
Juan Pierre led off Florida's first with a walk and took third on a double by Castillo. Lowell's single made it 1-0, and Cordero's foulout scored Castillo, who beat Giles' wide throw with a headfirst slide.
``We know we've got speed,'' Castillo said. ``We try to do something different and play hard.''
Conine then golfed a two-run homer over the scoreboard.
Notes
The Marlins' losing streak against the Braves was their longest since dropping
11 in a row to Atlanta from July 1994 to August 1995. ... Dempster went 42-43
for Florida from 1998 to 2002. ... Florida's Miguel Cabrera left five runners
in scoring position, all in the first four innings. ... The Marlins will give
away commemorative championship rings to the first 30,000 fans at their game
May 31 against Cincinnati. Florida had a similar giveaway earlier this month,
and some fans were unhappy about going without when ushers ran out of rings.
... The Marlins topped 40,000 in attendance for the third time in eight home
games. ... The Braves' Julio Franco singled home a run pinch-hitting in the
eighth inning and then left the game, complaining ofdizziness. He has been ill
for several days.