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Extra-inning win helps Brewers avoid sweep

Jun 11, 2007 - 7:02 AM ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- Geoff Jenkins ended a long night with a long blast.

Jenkins clubbed a three-run homer in the top of the 12th inning to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 9-6 victory over the Texas Rangers on Sunday.

Prince Fielder homered and Johnny Estrada had four hits and two RBI to lead the Brewers, who snapped a three-game losing streak and avoided an embarrassing sweep at the hands of the American League's worst team.

Willie Eyre (2-3) was in his third inning of relief when Ryan Braun reached on second baseman Ian Kinsler's error to begin the 12th. After Fielder struck out, Corey Hart lined a hit off Eyre's leg to put runners on first and second for Jenkins, who lifted the first pitch he saw into the upper deck in right field to give Milwaukee a 9-6 lead.

"He throws hard, 94-95 (miles per hour), you look for the fastball and hope you square it up," Jenkins said of Eyre. "Just getting a win there makes it sweet. When it's 12 innings, you're tired with the heat and all."

"It was just a little two-seamer I didn't get out there and he got good wood on it," said Eyre, who had a 14-inning scoreless streak snapped by the home run. "(Hart's hit off) the bottom of my calf, it didn't have an effect on me. If I was hurt, I would have come out of the game. I threw a bad pitch. I'm not going to blame it on anything other than that."

Jenkins had been 0-for-5 with two strikeouts before his game-winning hit.

"It was nice to pitch in," said Jenkins, who moved ahead of Cecil Fielder - Prince's father - and into third on the Brewers' all-time list with his 202nd career home run. "We had 22 hits and to that point, I didn't have any of them."

"Jenkins hadn't put together too many good at-bats tonight until that last one," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said, "but he saved it all for that last one, that's for sure."

Carlos Villanueva (5-0) pitched two scoreless innings of relief and Claudio Vargas pitched the 12th to earn the first save of his career.

"I thought things were going to go our way the whole game, but that's just baseball," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "It was a good game and they just ended up pulling it out. When you play that late at night, you'd like to get the win."

On Saturday night, Francisco Cordero suffered his first blown save of the season when he surrendered four runs in the ninth inning of a 4-3 defeat. Cordero, who came over to Milwaukee from Texas at the trading deadline last season, seemed shaken by pitching against his former teammates.

Sunday was no different, as Cordero yielded a one-out single to his former catcher, Gerald Laird, who was lifted for a pinch runner. After Kenny Lofton flied out for out No. 2, pinch runner Jerry Hairston Jr. stole second and came around to score on Marlon Byrd's single, sending the game to extra innings.

"Marlon's swinging the bat well," Laird said. "He puts in a lot of work in the cages, so he deserves everything he gets."

"Laird's been tough on us this whole series," Yost said. "Another base hit. Pinch runner steals second and Marlon Byrd can find some holes. He killed us with hits. You've got to kind of take your hat off to him."

Yost was not concerned by Cordero's back-to-back blown saves.

"Frankie's the best stinking stopper in the game right now," Yost said. "Before he got here, he's just been lights-out, dominating perfect."

The Brewers pounded out 22 hits to overcome the ineffectiveness of starter Dave Bush, who was lifted after just 4 1/3 innings. The veteran righthander allowed four runs - three earned - and six hits, walking two and striking out four.

Bush has not notched a win since May 8 against the Washington Nationals - a span of six starts.

The Rangers opened the scoring in the second when Lofton and Byrd reached on singles. Lofton moved up to third base on Bush's throwing error and came around to score on Michael Young's RBI single.

After Sammy Sosa drew a walk, Bush forced Frank Catalanotto to ground into a fielder's choice, scoring Byrd from third for an early 2-0 advantage.

Young added another run with an RBI single in the third.

Milwaukee, which had at least two base runners in each of the first four innings, finally broke through in the fifth when Braun led off with a single in front of Fielder's 23rd homer of the season.

Texas starter Vicente Padilla gutted his way through 4 2/3 innings, yielding two runs and 11 hits. He now leads the AL in runs allowed with 59 and is second to teammate Kameron Loe, who is now in the minors, with 50 earned runs.

"He did a good job changing speeds and keeping them off-balance," Washington said of Padilla. "He was just one pitch away from getting out of the fifth."

After Young's third RBI of the game gave the Rangers a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth, the Brewers finally took the lead in the sixth.

After a pair of quick outs, Braun singled to center. Texas then brought in lefthander C.J Wilson (0-1) to face Fielder, who singled to left. Wilson then hit Hart to load the bases, and forced in a run when he hit the next batter, Jenkins.

Estrada provided the inning's big blow when he followed Jenkins with a two-run single to center to give the Brewers a 5-4 advantage.