ATLANTA (AP) – Marlins right-hander Brad Penny was nearly finished with his pregame warmups when the rain first started to fall at Turner Field.

The tarp came out for what was supposed to be a brief shower. Three hours later, it finally stopped raining and the first pitch was thrown at 10:55 p.m.

“That’s a first, waiting that long,” Penny said Tuesday, a day after the Marlins and the Atlanta Braves played into the early hours.

The Braves scored five runs off Penny in five innings and won 6-1 – with the final out recorded at 1:24 a.m.

“It was tough,” Penny said. “I was a little stiff and didn’t start to get loose until the last couple of innings, but that’s what happens.

“When someone keeps a game going like that, there’s only thing they’re interested in, and that’s probably the gate. They don’t care about anyone’s health.”

The announced crowd of 31,969 had dwindled to about 5,000 when Atlanta starter John Thomson finally took the mound.

Fans were allowed to fill up all the empty seats down near the field, and they stayed boisterous throughout.

“That’s why we played, for the people who were here,” Braves catcher Eddie Perez said.

Those in attendance included the family and friends of Atlanta rookie Charles Thomas, who made his first start at home since being called up last week from Triple-A Richmond. He rewarded their patience by finishing 2-for-4 and making a spectacular diving catch in left field. Thomas’ mother and sister spent the night in Atlanta, but the rest of his fans headed back home to North Carolina.

“Everybody stayed, even though some of them had to go back after the game,” Thomas said. “I really appreciated that.”

They were going home at the break of dawn.”

The victory was the third straight for the Braves – tying their best streak of the season – so obviously they had no problem with the decision to start the game 31/2 hours late.

A few of the Marlins’ players disagreed.

“You could get three or four guys hurt, and there goes the chance of another pennant,” Florida utilityman Lenny Harris said. “Then what do you say? We should have never played. You got to look at that with caution.”

In fact, when Harris and his teammates were told by assistant GM Mike Hill that the start was scheduled for 10:55 p.m., they all thought it was a joke.

“It was a big surprise,” Harris said.

Braves officials insisted they were surprised the rain stayed around as long as it did. Numerous checks of the onsite radar indicated that it should already have gone.

Calls to The Weather Channel didn’t help much, either.

“Each time we would wait, there would be new showers cropping up,” Braves executive Mike Plant said. “The guys at The Weather Channel kept saying, We don’t know where this stuff’s coming from.”‘

AP-ES-06-29-04 2003EDT