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Jenkins drives in two as Brewers win sixth straight

May 9, 2007 - 9:37 PM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Once again, Geoff Jenkins picked up his high-flying young teammates.

Jenkins drove in two runs, including the go-ahead RBI on a single in the eighth inning, as the Milwaukee Brewers captured their sixth straight win with a 3-1 victory over the reeling Washington Nationals.

The offensive face of the franchise prior to the emergence of young stars Prince Fielder and J.J. Hardy, Jenkins showed again that he can be productive in the lineup, finishing the series with two home runs and five RBI.

"The young guys have another year under their belt," Jenkins said. "When I re-signed here, this is what I was looking forward to, what has been transpired. This is fun, but the main thing is we have to keep producing."

In Monday's 3-0 win, Jenkins supplied all the offense in support of the eight strong innings by lefthander Chris Capuano, blasting a three-run homer in the second inning.

The 32-year-old outfielder displayed his power again Wednesday, connecting for his seventh home run in the fourth off Nationals starter Jason Bergmann.

"The one thing that's great about this team is nobody feels like they have to carry the team," Jenkins said. "It seems like there's a different hero every day. It's obviously awesome to pitch in and help win ballgames."

Jenkins was the fourth different player to homer in the series for the Brewers, who outscored the Nationals, 12-5, in winning their seventh straight series. Although Washington was able to tie the score at 1-1 in the sixth on a solo homer by Felipe Lopez, Jenkins came through again in the eighth.

With runners at first and second with one out, Jenkins lined a single to right field off Jesus Colome that saw Fielder beat a throw to plate.

"He's always been a very, very good hitter against righthanded pitching, and he's in a place where he can really succeed this season," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said of Jenkins. "It's all adding up to pretty big numbers."

After Gabe Gross popped up, Bill Hall added an insurance run when he scored on Colome's wild pitch.

Baseball's winningest team, Milwaukee (24-10) put away the game behind closer Francisco Cordero. Appearing in his sixth straight game, the righthander bounced back from allowing his first run of the year Tuesday to work around a two-out single in the ninth for his major league-leading 15th save.

"When you don't throw that many pitches in a game, you can go a few days in a row," said Cordero, who averaged just nine pitches during his string of appearances. "I'm doing a real good job of getting ahead of the hitters and throwing strikes and getting people out. I thought I'd be a little bit sore today, but that was not the case."

Yost said he has never used a pitcher in six consecutive games prior to Cordero.

"I gave him my word, I would not pitch him (Thursday), joked Yost, whose team has a day off. "I really wouldn't have done it, but this was such a nice homestand and I just didn't want to take a chance."

Setup man Derrick Turnbow (1-0) struck out one in a perfect eighth for the win.

The back end of the bullpen wrapped up a stellar pitching performance for the Brewers, who got six strong innings from former National Claudio Vargas, who allowed a run, four hits and two walks. He extended a personal scoreless streak to 17 innings before Lopez's blast in the sixth.

"He did another nice job, kept us right in the ballgame," Yost said. "He got one pitch up to Lopez, but it was a well-pitched game on both sides. I told our pitching staff that our success would hinge on how you guys do, and they've really run with it."

Hardy was 0-of-4 with two strikeouts, snapping a 19-game hitting streak.

Bergmann finished with a run, two hits and a pair of walks allowed in six innings for Washington, which has lost eight straight games.

"We went out and accomplished what we wanted," Bergmann said. "We kept the game close and held them to as few runs as possible."

Lefthander Micah Bowie (0-2) gave up a hit and a run without recording an out.

Brian Schneider had two hits for the Nationals, who managed to score in just four of the 27 innings of the three-game sweep.

"We haven't been blown out since the first week of the year," Nationals manager Manny Acta said. "Every game, we've been right there. When we get some offense, things will be different. I'm very proud of our starters (pitchers). Despite what we're going through, they've given us a chance."