BROWN BRILLIANT AGAINST EXPOS HE RETIRES FIRST 18 BATTERS HE FACES IN COMMANDING WIN DODGERS 5, MONTREAL 1.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

For six innings Wednesday night, Kevin Brown made Dodgers fans forget where they were.

On a cool August night in a season that is slipping away, Brown had everyone on their feet believing when he retired the first 18 batters he faced in a 5-1 victory over the Montreal Expos.

Brown, the ace who was struggling like the rest of the team the past month, did not allow a batter to reach base until former Dodgers farmhand Peter Bergeron opened the seventh with a sharp liner off the glove of third baseman Adrian Beltre.

The Expos went on to score after doubles by Jose Vidro and Lee Stevens, but it didn't prevent the crowd of 31,337 from giving Brown a standing ovation.

Brown, who pitched a no-hitter in 1997 at San Francisco when he played for the Florida Marlins, left after allowing the first two batters to reach base in the eighth.

``It would have been nice to continue, but you can't think about that,'' Brown said. ``You just go out there and do your job for as long as you can.''

It was the way he dominated the Expos that will be remembered. He allowed only two fly balls in the first six innings.

Brown (11-5) also survived getting hit on the right hand during a bunt attempt in the fifth inning, when the Dodgers scored two unearned runs and put the game away.

``My finger started swelling up in the innings after that,'' Brown said. ``It was not a question of staying in.''

Wednesday, the Dodgers got all the runs they needed in the fourth off right-hander Mark Thurman, who retired the first 10 batters he faced.

With one out, Mark Grudzielanek doubled off the glove of Expos' third baseman Geoff Blum and Shawn Green walked. After Eric Karros flied to deep left, Todd Hundley scored Grudzielanek by rolling a single past shortstop Orlando Cabrera.

Thurman, who had been so dominant through the first three innings, continued to fall apart. He walked Devon White and allowed a two-run single by Beltre before getting out of the inning.

It got worse for Thurman, who hit Brown in the right index finger to begin the fifth. On the same play back in May against the Mets, Brown suffered a fractured right pinky and spent two weeks on the disabled list.

Dodgers manager Davey Johnson, who underwent surgery on his left rotator cuff Tuesday, rushed to Brown behind home plate. But Brown remained in the game and walked to first to begin another rally.

Thurman (3-4) continued to be the key to the Dodgers damage. Tom oodwin followed by tapping back to the pitcher's mound, but Thurman's throw to second sailed into center field.

Green followed with an RBI single to score Brown and move Goodwin to third. Karros' fly ball to center would have been the third out. Instead it was a sacrifice fly that scored the Dodgers fifth run.