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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
PHOENIX (AP) – Kevin Brown was great. Curt Schilling was even
better.
|  | | Kevin Brown pitched a complete game, gave up three hits, struck out eight and walked none – but lost. |
In a stirring pitcher's duel, Schilling threw a two-hitter as
the Arizona Diamondbacks beat Brown and the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0
Tuesday night.
"We saw two of the best right-handers of their era locking
horns tonight," Arizona manager Bob Brenly said. "First and
foremost, I'm a baseball fan, and that one was fun to watch."
Brown threw a three-hitter and struck out eight. Neither pitcher
walked a batter. Schilling struck out 10 and never threw more than
two balls to a Dodgers batter.
"That was vintage major league pitching at its finest from both
sides," Los Angeles manager Jim Tracy said.
Schilling (2-0), who beat the Dodgers for the second time in six
days, earned his 16th career shutout and his 66th complete game.
The two hits were the fewest ever allowed in a complete game by an
Arizona pitcher.
"Our hands were completely tied," Tracy said. "We didn't get
a man to second base."
No more than four batters went to the plate in any inning.
Arizona left no one on base. Los Angeles stranded two. Schilling
threw 93 pitches, 73 of them strikes. Brown threw 88, 65 of them
strikes.
At 1 hour, 55 minutes, it was the shortest game ever at Bank One
Ballpark.
The Diamondbacks had lost four in a row, including a rare bad
outing by Randy Johnson on Sunday.
"We were struggling. Randy had one of the few bad games he's
going to have all year, and we're playing the Dodgers," Schilling
said. "As important as a game can be seven games into the season,
I thought this was a pretty big game."
Luis Gonzalez hit his sixth home run of the season, a solo shot
428 feet to center field, off Brown with one out in the seventh.
"This was just an old-time baseball game," Gonzalez said. "It
probably was a fun game to watch, and it was a fun game to play
in."
The game's other run -- scored by Tony Womack in the fourth -- was
unearned, set up by a rare error by Los Angeles first baseman Eric
Karros.
Schilling retired the first 15 batters before Paul LoDuca led
off the sixth with a single. The only other Dodgers' hit was a
leadoff single by Karros in the eighth.
"He was really locked in, you could tell by the way he was
sitting on the bench between innings," Brenly said of Schilling.
"It's odd. He takes off his hat and his hair stands straight up
and he's got this blank stare on his face. Nobody wants to get near
him, and we didn't."
Schilling was helped by three big defensive plays. Gonzalez ran
down Shawn Green's deep fly ball in the left field corner in the
seventh, third baseman Matt Williams handled a tricky hop on Gary
Sheffield's seventh-inning grounder and first baseman Mark Grace
made a diving stop to rob Tom Goodwin in the ninth.
Brown (0-1) pitched his 72nd complete game but lost for the
first time in 11 starts against Arizona.
"It would be nice to pitch this well and still win," Brown
said. "But it wasn't the case. Curt did a great job tonight. I
would have had to be perfect and I wasn't."
Brown was activated earlier in the day after beginning the
season on the disabled list with a strained right Achilles' tendon.
"For a guy to have been out and come out and pitch a baseball
game like that -- anything he does shouldn't surprise us -- but that
was unbelievable," Tracy said.
Womack led off the fourth with a bunt. Brown fielded the ball
and threw hard to first. Karros, who had only seven errors all of
last season, dropped the ball and Womack was safe.
After Brown's repeated throws to first to keep Womack close, Jay
Bell singled to center. Womack, the NL base-stealing champion in
1998 and '99, raced from first to third on the hit, and scored when
Gonzalez grounded into a double play.
Schilling had seven strikeouts through five innings before
LoDuca lined a 2-2 pitch to right field to lead off the sixth. Joey
Cora struck out, Brown fouled out on a bunt attempt and Tom Goodwin
struck out to end the inning.
Grace led off the third for the only other hit off Brown.
Schilling said it was the best he'd felt on the mound since his
shoulder surgery in December 1999.
Game notes
To make room for Brown, the Dodgers optioned RHP Luke
Prokopec to Triple-A Las Vegas. ... Arizona will start RHP Mike
Morgan at Colorado on Saturday. Morgan moves into the No. 5 spot in
the rotation vacated by the elbow injury to Bobby Witt. ... Johnson
will be on the mound to open the Colorado series Friday night. ...
Because of chilly weather and a chance of rain, the roof was closed
at Bank One Ballpark for the first time this season.
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RECAPS
Boston 10
Baltimore 1
Toronto 3
Tampa Bay 2
Chi. White Sox 8
Cleveland 7
NY Yankees 9
Kansas City 5
Minnesota 8
Detroit 2
Texas 7
Anaheim 5
Seattle 5
Oakland 1
San Francisco 11
San Diego 6
Chicago Cubs 4
Montreal 2
Philadelphia 7
Florida 6
Houston 3
Milwaukee 0
Arizona 2
Los Angeles 0
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Curt Schilling credits the Diamondbacks offense for getting at an unbeatable Kevin Brown.
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ESPN's Jayson Stark admires Curt Schilling's shutout performance against the Dodgers.
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Curt Schilling was able to beat the Dodgers when Kevin Brown had "unhittable stuff."
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