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The Brown-out is over.

Dom Brown returned to the IronPigs lineup for Sunday’s game with Louisville, his first action since May 7 and only his second start since leaving a game on May 2 with a hamstring strain.

“He’s chomping at the bit, ready to go,” manager Ryne Sandberg said before the game. “He’s goit a clean bill of health, he’s looked good in practice the last four or five days, and I’m anxious to see him and glad to have hm back in the lineup.”

“Oh man, it felt great,” Brown said afterward.

Hitting third, and seeing live pitching for the first time since May 7, Brown went 0-for-3 with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly. He struck out on four pitches in the first, poppped to short on four pitches in the fourth andd struck out on six pitches leading off the seventh.

Hitting with runners at second and third in the eighth, Brown worked the count to 2-1 before lofting a sacrifice fly to left that enabled Steve Susdorf to score. Afterward, Brown said he needs to take the approach he used in that at-bat with him to the plate every at-bat.

“When I get a runner in scoring position I, I’m totally different up there,” Brown said. “I start slowing eveything down, take it pich by pitch. I’m sticking my shoulder in a little bit more, grinding it a little bit more. I need to do that when there are no runners on base.”

Two fly balls where hit his way in left, and both were challenges. On the first, he had to run to his left to catch up to Bill Rhinehart’s drive in the first inning, running it down near the warning track. On the second, he had to reach up to spear a wicked line drive by Chris Valaika.

“He made some nice plays out there,” Sandberg said. “He caught a ball going back, and he caught a line drive where his 6-4 status came into play — I don’t know if anyone else catches that ball.”

 Brown also got to show off his arm, throwing out Dioner Navarro at the plate in the seventh when the Louisville catcher tried to score from second on Willie Harri’s’ single.

“That’s one of the best things I like to do out there, when I get the chance to throw a guy out,” a smiling Brown said. “That’s up thee with the home run for me.” 

Brown missed three games before hitting a pinch-hit triple on May 6 against Charlotte, then started the next night in INdianapolis. But he aggravated the injury while trying to make a sliding catch and missed the next 12 games.

The left-fielder has been undergoing a series of tests under the supervision of athletic trainer Chris Mudd and conditioning coach Jason Meredith, and has said for the past several days he’s felt fine and was ready to play. But perhaps with nightmares of the Tyson Gillies situation the past two years — the young outfielder has basically missed the last two seasons with hamstring issues — Sandberg said the Phillies took a cautious approach with Brown.

“Precautionary but also smart,” Sandberg said. “Something like that can linger and go through a whole season if it’s not handled right. He did running tests, he did outfield work for four or five days, bating practice, extra hitting practice, things like that. Each day he felt fine, but it’s not how it is that day, it’s how how it is the day or two days after. He rebounded each time well and now this should all be behind him and he’s ready to go.”

“I’m glad they took their time with me,” Brown said. “Mudd and the Phillies did a great job of getting me ready. If I tried to come back too soon I might’ve gotten hurt again and been out longer, so I’m happy with teh way everyone handled the situation.”

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Pitcher Tom Cochran also returned Sunday when he was activated off the disabled list. Cochran  has been on the DL since May 3 with a left shoulder strain.

The left-hander, who was 2-1 with a 5.54 ERA in five starts, was replaced in the rotation by Tyler Cloyd. Cochran made his first relief appearance on Sunday, allowing three hits, walking one and striking out two in two scoreless innings. He threw 20 of his 29 pitches for strikes.

“He threw the ball well; that’s encouraging” Sandberg said. “He needs some building up now, and he’ll have a chance to be a guy who can go multiple innings and could fit into a long-guy situation.”

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The Phillies also returned infielder Tug Hulett back to short-handed Reading in a move that Sandberg called an “organizational thing.

“This time of year you don’t have the player movement to fill out all the spots,” said Sandberg, who had received seven players, including Hulett, from Double-A since April 25. “It’s a numbers thing.”

The departure of Hulett, who hit safely in all five of his games with the IronPigs (5-for-17, .294, 2 RBI), leaves Sanberg with four infielders on the roster including first baseman Cody Overbeck.

“It doesn’t have to be a long-term thing,” Sandberg said. “[John] Suomi and [Steve] Susdorf can play first base, which they will, and maybe Overbeck will get a chance to play some third base. [Kevin] Frandsen can play some short, and [Tim] Kennelly can play some second. So there’s some versatility there.”

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Allentown’s Jeanette Bottazzi, a catcher for 1946 Kenosha Comets of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, threw out the first pitch. The IronPigs wore replica jerseys modeled after those warn in the AAGPBL which will be auctioned off throughout the game to support the Women’s 5K Classic

The Midwestern-based AGPBL began during World War II when minor league baseball suffered player shortages due to the war and continued through 1964.

As part of the belated Mother’s Day celebration and to promote breast cancer awareness, 20 local cancer survivors held a pink ribbon in canter field during the National Anthem. In addition, two women selected by a team social media contest served as “bat moms,” one for each team, during the first three innings.

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Rich Thompson’s first weekend in eight years as a big leaguer ended with him doing what he did so well here at Coca-Cola Park — spending time with the fans.

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