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Cabrera's single helps Marlins sink Dodgers

May 9, 2007 - 3:30 AM MIAMI (Ticker) -- The Florida Marlins stopped striking out and started striking back.

Miguel Cabrera singled in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Marlins snapped a three-game losing streak with a 6-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Cabrera also belted a mammoth two-run homer in the fifth inning for Florida, which had struck out 25 times in its past two games.

Henry Owens (2-0), the fourth Marlins reliever, picked up the victory with a scoreless ninth inning.

The unlikely catalyst for the winning rally in the ninth was pinch hitter Eric Reed, who singled on a 0-2 pitch from Jonathan Broxton (1-1).

"I've been waiting on that for a while," Reed said. "It's hard to sit there and see everyone do something and I have nothing to show for it, but tonight I did my job."

Reed, who entered the game batting .077 (1-for-13), moved to second on a passed ball before Cabrera drilled a one-out single to center. The speedy Reed beat the throw from Juan Pierre as the Marlins ended a four-game home losing skid to Los Angeles.

"Everybody wants to be in that spot," Cabrera said of his walk-off hit. "Especially when you win the game. That was a great thing."

Cabrera entered the game with a .382 batting average with runners in scoring position over the last two seasons, good for second best in the National League.

"That's the guy you want in the ninth inning and he came through," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said.

Mistakes by the Marlins allowed Los Angeles to get the equalizer in the eighth. Andre Ethier reached on his third hit, a single off Renyel Pinto, and moved to second on first baseman Aaron Boone's throwing error. After advancing to third on a groundout, he scored on Pinto's wild pitch for a 5-5 tie.

Trailing, 4-1, the Marlins rallied to take the lead with four runs in the bottom of the fifth, taking advantage of a pair of errors and knocking out Dodgers starter Mark Hendrickson. The 6-9 lefthander gave up five runs - three earned - and five hits while walking four and striking out two.

"I thought the turning point in the game was in the fourth inning when our starting pitcher was cruising along there and threw a 36-pitch inning," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "They didnt get any hits or runs, but it was a heavy load on him. I think it caught up to him in the fifth."

Hanley Ramirez led off by rifling a triple down the right field line. Second baseman Jeff Kent bobbled the relay throw and as he nonchalantly walked after the ball, an alert Ramirez took off for home plate and scored to cut the deficit to 4-2.

"The ball was on the ground so I just decided to go," Ramirez said.

Dan Uggla followed by reaching on shortstop Furcal's fielding error and Cabrera then drilled a towering shot - his eight homer of the season - that hit off the facing of the upper deck in left to tie it at 4-4.

Boone kept the inning alive with a two-out double and Olivo was intentionally walked, a strategy that backfield when slumping Joe Borchard greeted reliever Chin-hui Tsao with a double off the wall in right to drive in Boone.

Olivo also tried to score, running through a stop sign at third base, but was tagged out for the final out of the inning when he stopped running hoping to avoid the tag as opposed to trying to slide.

"It was kind of comical more than anything," Borchard said. "It was good for a chuckle out of everybody if nothing else."

Olivo put the Marlins in front, 1-0, with a two-out solo home run off Hendrickson in the second inning. Olivo has hit in five of his last six games.

Marlins starter Wes Obermueller, who started the season in the minor leagues, got in trouble in the third by walking leadoff hitter Rafael Furcal and yielding a single to Pierre.

After Nomar Garciaparra moved Furcal to third with a sacrifice fly, Kent singled in a run to tie it at 1-1. A passed ball allowed the runners to move up a base and it proved costly when Pierre scored on Luis Gonzalez's groundout to first base for a 2-1 lead.

The Dodgers padded the lead to 4-1 in the fourth. With Jeff Kent aboard via a single, Russell Martin and Ethier laced back-to-back RBI doubles. Ethier extended his hitting streak to eight games during which he is batting .480 (12-of-25).

Obermueller allowed four runs and eight hits in five innings. He walked four and struck out two.