Sat, Aug 26, 2006 page19

• Brewers' Tomo Ohka bats left to put Rockies to bed

  MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL The Milwaukee pitcher, who is a .130 batter using his right hand, decided he had nothing to lose, and drove in four runs with the left

  • AP
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  Tomo Ohka drove in a career-high four runs batting left-handed for the first time in his major league career, and Prince Fielder hit a three-run homer as the Milwaukee Brewers beat Colorado 12-6 on Thursday and extended the Rockies' losing streak to six.

  Ohka (4-3), told Ned Yost he was planning to hit left-handed for the first time.

  "I thought, `Man, as bad as you're swinging, just do whatever you want,'" the Milwaukee manager said. "Four RBIs later, he had a nice day."

  

  The Milwaukee Brewers' Tomo Ohka hits a run-scoring single during the fifth inning against the Colorado Rockies in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Thursday. The Brewers' Geoff Jenkins scored from second.

  PHOTO: AP

  "It's just one game," Ohka said. "But I'm going to keep doing that."

  Ohka, a right-handed pitcher who has been tinkering with swinging left-handed in batting practice, drove in runs in his three plate appearances. After swinging for the fences on the first pitch of his first at-bat and doing a pirouette, he hit the mitt of catcher Danny Ardoin on his next swing, and Geoff Jenkins scored on the catcher's interference.

  "I was so glad he hit the catcher's glove his first time up," Yost said. "I was just hoping that he wouldn't hit the ball because I figured he'd hit into a double play, so I was just actually just hoping he would strike out there."

  Hitting right-handed, Ohka is a .130 batter in his career (30-for-230) with 11 RBIs. He raised his batting average on the season from .087 to .160.

  "I just tried to hit it up the middle," Ohka said.

  Rockies manager Clint Hurdle praised Ohka's effort to make himself more comfortable at the plate.

  "Give him a little credit," Hurdle said. "He's doing it for a reason: He thinks he's better."

  Josh Fogg (9-8) gave up eight runs, eight hits and two walks in 4 2-3 innings and hit two batters with pitches.

  Mets 6, Cardinals 2

  In New York, Carlos Delgado homered for the fourth time in four games, and New York completed a three-game sweep of St. Louis and extended its winning streak to seven games.

  Shawn Green had a RBI single in his debut for New York, which has won 11 straight at Shea Stadium, its longest home winning streak since September 1995. The Mets (78-48) moved to 30 games over .500 for the first time since 1999 and lead second-place Philadelphia by 14 1/2 games in the National League East.

  St. Louis, which entered with a one-game lead over Cincinnati in the NL Central, lost for the 18th time in 26 games. Jason Marquis (13-12) gave up five runs, seven hits and four walks in six innings.

  Jon Garland pitched a six-hitter and Jermaine Dye homered twice to lift the Chicago White Sox over the Detroit Tigers 10-0 on Thursday for a four-game split.

  Chicago, which lost the first two games by a combined score of 11-1, trails the first-place Tigers by 5.5 games in the AL Central and has a slim lead over Minnesota in the wild-card race. Detroit, which has lost five of seven, had a 10-game lead after play on Aug. 7.

  Garland (15-4) struck out two and walked one in fifth career shutout, his third against Detroit. Nate Robertson (11-10) gave up a career-high 10 runs and nine hits in 6 2-3 innings.

  Rangers 4, Devil Rays 3

  In St. Petersburg, Florida, Robinson Tejeda won his second consecutive start since being called up from minor leagues and Carlos Lee hit a solo homer, helping Texas avoid a four-game sweep.

  Tejeda (3-3) gave up two runs and five hits in 7 2-3 innings. He was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma last Saturday to make a start that day and earned a spot in the rotation after giving up one run over 6 2-3 innings in a 3-1 win over Detroit.

  Tejeda is 2-0 against the Devil Rays this season. He also beat Tampa Bay in his Texas' debut on May 2. Akinori Otsuka pitched the ninth and got his 27th save for the Rangers, who are seven games behind AL West-leading Oakland. Texas hosts the Athletics in a three-game series which began last night.

  Tim Corcoran (4-6) allowed four runs and five hits in six innings. He is 0-6 over his last eight starts.

  Mariners 4, Yankees 2

  At Seattle, Jarrod Washburn continued to tame New York as he had a season-high nine strikeouts in Seattle's victory.

  Seattle rebounded from a franchise-worst 0-11 road trip that ended on Sunday for its first home series win over New York since April 7-9, 2000.

  The Yankees lost for the second time on their eight-game road trip, despite Randy Johnson's second complete game of the season and 98th of his career. Johnson (14-10) allowed four runs and seven hits.
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