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Historic power surge lifts Brewers over Reds

Sep 9, 2007 - 9:44 PM CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- The Milwaukee Brewers hit a season-high six home runs en route to a 10-5 triumph over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.

Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy and rookie Ryan Braun opened the game with three straight home runs off Reds starter Phil Dumatrait - the third time in major league history that three players homered to lead off a game.

Rafael Furcal, Mark DeRosa and Gary Sheffield were the last trio to lead off a game with home runs, doing so with the Atlanta Braves on May 28, 2003 against Jeff Austin of the Reds. The only other time this feat was achieved was in 1987, when Marvell Wynne, Tony Gwynn and John Kruk of the San Diego Padres all homered off San Francisco Giants pitcher Roger Mason.

"It's nice," said Milwaukee manager Ned Yost, who was a member of the 1982 "Harvey's Wallbangers" Brewers that set the franchise home run record. "At the same time its scary because you know the ball is flying out of here and (Milwuakee starter Ben Sheets) hasn't taken the mound yet."

Sheets (12-4) needed the support as he pitched six mediocre innings, allowing five runs and six hits. The righthander struck out six and walked three in his third start since coming off the disabled list on August 30.

"Ben's still struggling with command but he got us six innings," Yost said.

"I felt good enough. The results are what we need," Sheets said. "I got a little tired at the end. I missed a month and a half. I'm not going to be where I was before. Fortunately, we got enough runs that my outing didn't matter."

With the win, Milwaukee (73-69) holds a slim one-game lead atop the National League Central Division over the Chicago Cubs (72-70), who lost, 10-5, to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.

Dumatrait (0-4) surrendered the home runs within a span of nine pitches and didn't make it out of the first. The 26-year-old lefthander allowed four runs and five hits without recording an out as his ERA swelled from 13.00 to 15.00.

"Phil didn't have command of any of his pitches," Cincinnati interim manager Pete Mackanin said. "The Brewers let him know about it. I didn't waste a lot of time because we have a lot of pitchers. It may have been my quickest hook ever."

After the three home runs, Prince Fielder, Corey Hart and Kevin Mench all singled to load the bases and Johnny Estrada capped off the scoring with a sacrifice fly as the Brewers ended the first inning with a 4-0 lead.

The power surge continued in the second inning when Braun hit his second home run of the game, a two-run blast for his third multi-homer game, extending the Brewers lead to 7-1. Braun's 30 home runs is a new franchise rookie record, surpassing Fielder's mark of 28 set last season.

"Prince congratulated me," Braun said. "I was swinging the bat horrible this series. I was just looking for a pitch I could hit. I've never been a part of something like that. It was pretty cool."

Weeks hit his second home run of the game, a solo homer, off reliever Kirk Saarloos to lead off the fourth inning. It was the second multi-home run game of the season for Weeks, who last homered twice on August 30 against the Cubs.

"It was fun we had a big win yesterday," said Weeks, who hit a triple to drive in the winning run Saturday. "It carried over. I've never been involved in back-to-back home runs. It was pretty special. I feel good. I've got to keep pushing. I don't look at statistics. We have to stop watching TV and worry about ourselves and winning games."

The Reds tried to overcome Milwaukee's offensive onslaught as Ken Griffey Jr. drove in one with a sacrifice fly in the second before Ryan Hanigan crossed the plate on a wild pitch by Brewers starter Ben Sheets in the fifth.

Edwin Encarnacion hit his 12th home run of the season, a three-run blast, in the sixth as the Reds narrowed the lead to three.

However, Estrada put the Brewers ahead for good in the eighth inning, hitting his ninth home run of the season, a two-run shot, to give Milwaukee a 10-5 lead.

Dumatrait was not available for comment but catcher Javier Valentin described the frustration.

"I never saw anything like that before," Valentin said. "He got behind in the count. They were all fastballs. It was a tough first inning."

"You have to tip your hat to the Brewers. They came out swinging," Mackanin said.