MIAMI — When Florida Marlins catcher Mike Rabelo spiked the ball to punctuate an inning-ending play in the eighth inning, the Los Angeles Dodgers took note.

"Excitement from a kid, and he'll probably learn from it," Los Angeles second baseman Jeff Kent said.

An inning later, it was the Dodgers doing the celebrating. Kent's two-out single broke a ninth-inning tie, and the Dodgers won their fourth game in a row Tuesday night, 7-6.

Andre Ethier walked with one out against Kevin Gregg (3-1), took second on a groundout and scored easily on Kent's single. The Dodgers won even though Derek Lowe was unable to protect a 6-1 lead, and with the score 6-all, twice failed to convert scoring chances.

Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla made a strong relay on a double by Mark Sweeney to throw out Blake DeWitt trying to score from first with two out in the eighth. Rabelo held onto the throw despite taking a tumble in a collision with Sweeney, then rose and slammed the ball to the grass as he headed for the dugout.

Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said Rabelo's show of emotion was excessive.

"That's not the way we want to be portrayed as an organization," Gonzalez said. "I spoke to him afterward, and he'll be fine."

Los Angeles, coming off three-game sweep at home against the NL champion Colorado Rockies, improved to 4-8 on the road. The game started a stretch where the Dodgers play 19 of 31 games on the road.

"It was a great grind-out game, especially with our record on the road (4-8) where we haven't seemed that comfortable," manager Joe Torre said. "It's just good practice for us, because with the type of pitching in our division, there aren't going to be many runaways. You're going to have to get used to playing games like this."

Three Los Angeles relievers combined for four shutout innings. Joe Beimel (2-0) pitched the eighth, and Takashi Saito followed with a perfect ninth for his third save in five chances.

National League

PHILLIES 7, PADRES 4: At Philadelphia, Cole Hamels had an impressive outing and the Phillies beat San Diego, denying Greg Maddux his 350th career victory. Hamels (3-3) allowed five hits, two runs and struck out six in 7 1/3 innings. Tom Gordon worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth and the Phillies scored four insurance runs in the bottom half.

METS 5, PIRATES 4, 11 INNINGS: At New York, David Wright hit a single over a pulled in outfield with the bases loaded in the 11th inning, giving New York the win over Pittsburgh after the Mets' bullpen wasted a two-hit performance by Johan Santana. Jorge Sosa (3-1), the Mets' seventh pitcher, worked one inning for the win.