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Estes pitches Padres past Brewers

Sep 5, 2008 - 4:26 AM By David Cotey PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- The Milwaukee Brewers seem to be losing their footing as they try to chase down their first playoff berth since 1982.

Shawn Estes tossed six strong innings while Nick Hundley and Luis Rodriguez each drove in two runs as the San Diego Padres recorded a 5-2 victory over the Brewers on Thursday.

Estes (2-1) surrendered one run and seven hits for his first win since May 13 and helped the Padres snap a three-game skid, including a string of nine straight road losses.

"I knew it was piling up," said Padres manager Bud Black, whose team had not won on the road since August 10 at Colorado. "We haven't been good on the road. It's good to get a road win, especially against a team, if the season ended (Thursday), would be in the playoffs."

Hundley lifted a sacrifice fly in the second and drove in the go-ahead run in the fourth with an RBI double against Milwaukee starter Jeff Suppan. Rodriguez then smacked a run-scoring single in the fifth.

"It was a battle," Suppan said. "I tried to work through it and keep it as close as possible, but they're good hitters and they were able to put up some runs."

Trevor Hoffman recorded his 28th save with a scoreless ninth for San Diego.

The lead for the Brewers (80-60) in the NL wild-card race was trimmed to four games over the idle Philadelphia Phillies (76-64) as they lost their fourth straight. Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs (85-55) lead Milwaukee in the NL Central by five games.

"This time of year, every game is important and you feel like you have to win every single game," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "But you don't worry about it. You don't dwell on it. We have a four-game lead in the wild card and you come back and try to win a game tomorrow. If you start worrying about it, it starts piling up on you."

Bill Hall's grounder plated Mike Cameron in the second, but the only other real test Estes faced was in the fourth, when the Brewers loaded the bases with two outs. The veteran lefthander, however, induced two ground balls to escape.

"Shawn hung in there," Black said. "A little rocky at the start, but he put some things together as the game went on. He made some big pitches when he had to."

Estes missed a majority of the 2007 season following "Tommy John" surgery and then missed 80 games this season with a fractured left thumb.

"It seems like that last time I pitched it was more than three months ago, and I was just starting to settle in and then I broke my thumb," Estes said. "You never know if your stuff's going to be the same when you have injuries. Every time I pitch in the big leagues, every time I go out there, I'm going to pitch with my best stuff and I'll probably gain confidence the more I pitch."

The Brewers were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position against Estes.

"It goes in cycles," Yost said. "We didn't do a great job of it against New York, and continued it again. You're looking for one hit. If you get one hit, it opens the door and kind of takes pressure off."

The Padres scored off Suppan (10-8) in four of his six innings and chased him during a two-run sixth. Will Venable, who has hit safely in five of six games since joining the Padres on August 29, led off the sixth with his first career home run to center field to make it 4-1.

"It's important to get that first one out of the way but, more importantly, it gave us an extra run," Venable said. "I'm just trying to help this team win."

Rodriguez added a sacrifice fly off reliever Guillermo Mota later in the frame.

Suppan lasted 5 1/3 innings, allowing five runs - four earned - and seven hits while striking out three. J.J. Hardy hit a solo home run off Padres reliever Mike Adams in the seventh.