Brewers' Late HR Beats Dodgers

Hideo Nomo's performance was a complete turnaround from his worst outing in a Dodgers uniform, but the result was the same.

Marquis Grissom hit a tiebreaking home run off Nomo in the seventh inning, leading Jose Mercedes and the Milwaukee Brewers over the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 on Thursday.

Nomo (1-3), coming off the shortest start of his career, lost despite pitching a three-hitter. Grissom had two hits, including an RBI single.

"Nomo pitched a great game," Dodgers manager Bill Russell said. "He only gave up three hits and threw the ball well, as well as you're going to see him throw. He did his job, we just didn't get any runs for him."

Nomo struck out six and walked two in the Dodgers' first complete game of the season. Last Saturday at Wrigley Field, he walked five and allowed eight runs in just two-thirds of an inning in an 8-1 loss to the Cubs.

"I didn't really feel that much different," Nomo said. "We took the lead, but I gave up two runs. That's something I'm going to have to think about."

Grissom broke a 1-1 tie with his second home run of the season. He lined an opposite-field drive just inside the foul pole in right.

"He had me timed pretty well," Nomo said. "He had the timing read. I'm going to have to be more careful with him next time."

Mercedes (2-0) gave up one run and six hits in seven innings, striking out one and walking two. Doug Jones pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save.

"Mercedes did a fine job," Brewers manager Phil Garner said. "He mixed speeds extremely well all day long. That's what he was doing. He was changing speeds off of off-speed stuff. That was pretty good and, again, our bullpen did a fine job."

The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the second when Mike Piazza doubled and scored on Jose Vizcaino's two-out single.

Milwaukee tied it in the fourth when Jose Valentin walked, stole second and scored on Grissom's single.

Grissom was the only Brewer with any type of experience against Nomo, facing him 13 previous times while in the National League.

"I had a good idea of what I wanted to do," Grissom said. "He was tough. He pitched well. He had the split-finger working and had a good fastball. He kept us off-balance."

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