Brewers Rally Past Marlins In Eleven

May 30, 1998 / 1:02 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Phil Garner is closer than ever to pulling the plug on his $2.5 million closer, Doug Jones, who blew his seventh save on Friday night.

"I'm going to sleep on it," the Milwaukee Brewers manager said after his team pulled out a 4-3 victory over the Florida Marlins when rookie Geoff Jenkins led off the 11th with his sixth home run.

Jenkins' opposite-field shot off Jay Powell (4-3) made a winner of Bob Wickman (2-4), who pitched two scoreless innings after Jones blew a 3-2 lead in the ninth when Cliff Floyd hit a solo homer.

Asked who might replace Jones as Milwaukee's closer, Garner said: "I have no idea. I'll tell you tomorrow."

Jones left the clubhouse without comment, but the blow of his failures has been softened by the Brewers' winning five of the games in which he's blown the save.

"Nobody's down on him one bit," Jenkins said. "He's going to be out there tomorrow, hopefully, with a lead."

Maybe and maybe not.

Although Chad Fox (shoulder) is on the disabled list, Garner could go with Wickman or Al Reyes instead.

Jones also surrendered a ninth-inning homer to blow a save in the Brewers' last game, against Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. He drew plenty of boos from the crowd of 25,032 when he entered the game Friday night to hold a 3-2 lead.

With one out, Floyd hit a 2-1 offering into the right field seats to tie it. Several fans tossed their giveaway seat cushions onto the field and into the lower deck in disgust.

Floyd's homer ruined right-hander Jeff Juden's chance at victory. Following his sacrifice fly in the fourth that gave the Marlins a 2-0 lead, Floyd jawed with Juden as he trotted back across the diamond.

The two have a history of bad blood dating to their days together in Montreal. A couple of high-and-tight pitches got Floyd's ire.

"Just the way he carries himself, he got me out of my game plan a little bit," Floyd said. "That's how he is, though."

Did Juden rattle him?

"Maybe. He broke my bat. I don't like him already, so that just made it even worse," Floyd said. "He was my teammate. It's not about like. When he pitched, I played hard for him. I didn't have to like him."

Jones has surrendered nine homers in 29 innings. He gave up four all of last year, when he saved a club-record 36 games in 38 chances.

Bob Hamelin's pinch-hit homer in the seventh against Livan Hernandez had given the Brewers a 3-2 lead before Jones blew his seventh save in 18 chances.

Hamelin, hitting just .151 with one homer and two RBIs, sent a fastball 421 feet into the center field seats to break a 2-2 tie. His pinch-hit homer was the Brewers' first.

One out after Hamelin's homer, Brewers right fielder Jeromy Burnitz was ejected by home plate mpire Brian Gorman for disputing a called strike.

Craig Counsell, who grew up in Milwaukee, scored the Marlins' first run in his hometown debut. He reached on first baseman David Nilsson's error in the third, was sacrificed to second and scored on Todd Dunwoody's single.

Jeff Cirillo, who doubled his first two times up, bounced a ball off the right-field pole in the fifth for his fourth homer of the year, pulling Milwaukee to 2-1. Bobby Hughes' RBI single in the sixth tied it.

Juden surrendered six hits and one earned run in seven innings, and Hernandez gave up three runs and seven hits in seven innings.

"It was a good ball game," Marlins manager Jim Leyland said. "We played well. We pitched well. Livan pitched a great ball game, I thought, and we had a chance."

Notes: The Marlins began a stretch in which they play 17 of 24 games on the road. ... Florida outrighted right-handed pitcher Blaine Mull to Double-A Portland. Mull was 0-3 with a 6.82 ERA in six starts and three relief appearances for the Marlins. ... The last pinch-hit homer by the Brewers was by Burnitz, against Seattle on Aug. 3, 1997.