HELTON EXTENDS HITTING STREAK TO 30 GAMES
Rox Fall to Crew on Ginter's PH Single in 9th
DENVER, July 26 (AP) - Todd Helton extended his hitting streak to 30 games with
a 7th inning single, but the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Colorado Rockies,
6-5, on Keith Ginter's tie-breaking pinch hit single in the ninth at Coors
Field. Helton becomes the second player in the major leagues to reach the
30-game threshold with a hitting streak. Raul Ibanez of the Kansas City
Royals hit in 33 consecutive games before having the streak snapped on June 10.
The Brewers drew first blood, pushing a run across in the second inning when
John Vander Wal's sacrifice fly scored Richie Sexson, who had led off with a
triple. But the Rockies tied the game in the bottom half of the frame on
Larry Walker's one-out solo home run.
Milwaukee regained the lead in the fifth. Eric Young led off the inning
with a single and stole second base. Consecutive walks issued by Colorado
starter Denny Stark to Brady Clark and Geoff Jenkins loaded the bases with no
outs. Richie Sexson rolled into a 6-4-3 double play, allowing Young to
score the go-ahead run, but diffusing any chance of a big inning and Vander Wal
ended the frame by grounding to short.
If the Brewers didn't get their crooked number in the fifth, they amended that
in the sixth, seizing control of the game with a three-run outburst.
Things began innocently enough when Wes Helms flied out and Eddie Perez struck
out. But Royce Clayton singled and pitcher Matt Kinney followed with a
base hit of his own. Stark was lifted in favor of reliever Adam Bernero
and Young greeted him with an opposite field home run into the seats down the
right field line for a 5-1 Milwaukee lead.
The Rockies countered with two runs in their half of the sixth. Preston
Wilson reached on an infield single with one out and, after Walker flied out,
Jay Payton grounded a single to right, with Wilson advancing to third.
Greg Norton then laced a triple into the right field corner; both runners scored
and the deficit was down to 5-3.
In the bottom of the seventh, Tony Womack led off with a triple that rolled to
the wall in left-center field and Juan Uribe brought him home with a sacrifice
fly to make the score 5-4. That brought Helton to the plate. Helton
had gone 0-for-3, producing some concern that the streak might come to an end,
but he sprayed a 3-1 Kinney fastball into left field for a single to extend the
streak, which produced the loudest ovation of the day from the Coors Field crowd
of nearly 35,000. Wilson then doubled to right, scoring Helton to tie the
game.
That's how things stood until the ninth. Facing Aaron Cook, Clark reached
on an infield single and advanced to second on Jenkins' base hit. Sexson
struck out and Vander Wal flied to center, with Clark advancing to third.
Ginter was called upon to pinch hit for pitcher Valerio de los Santos and he
lined a single into left field, scoring Clark with the lead run.
Leo Estrella came on for the Brewers in the ninth and retired the Rockies in
order to close out the game for his first save of the season.
7/26/2003, Mil03-Col03, Coors Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Brewers 0 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 6 14 1 10 0 2003 Rockies 0 1 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 5 10 0 11 2 Brewers AB R H BI AVG Rockies AB R H BI AVG Young,Eri 2b 5 2 2 3 .210 Womack 2b 4 1 1 0 .270 Clark,B cf 4 1 1 0 .262 Uribe ss 3 0 0 1 .255 Jenkins lf 4 0 3 0 .325 Helton 1b 5 1 2 0 .356 Sexson 1b 5 1 1 0 .266 Wilson,Pr cf 5 1 3 1 .283 Vander Wal rf 3 0 0 1 .262 Walker,L rf 4 1 1 1 .299 Helms 3b 3 0 0 0 .251 Payton lf 4 1 1 0 .280 de los Santos p 0 0 0 0 .000 Norton,G 3b 3 0 2 2 .255 Ginter,K ph 1 0 1 1 .212 Cook p 0 0 0 0 .074 Estrella p 0 0 0 0 .000 Bellhorn ph 1 0 0 0 .270 Perez,ER c 5 0 2 0 .300 Estalella c 3 0 0 0 .220 Clayton ss 4 1 3 0 .226 Stark p 2 0 0 0 .000 Kinney p 3 1 1 0 .083 Bernero p 0 0 0 0 .167 Vizcaino,L p 0 0 0 0 .000 Reyes,R ph 1 0 0 0 .154 Cruz,E 3b 1 0 0 0 .095 Lopez,JA p 0 0 0 0 .000 38 6 14 5 Stynes 3b 1 0 0 0 .279 36 5 10 5 Brewers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Kinney 5.2 6 3 3 1 8 107 62 4.91 Vizcaino,L BS 5 0.2 3 2 2 1 0 18 8 7.36 de los Santos W 2-2 1.2 1 0 0 3 3 53 27 3.86 Estrella S 1 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 13 6 3.05 9.0 10 5 5 5 11 191 103 Rockies INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Stark 5.2 8 4 4 3 3 89 55 4.11 Bernero 0.1 1 1 1 0 0 5 4 4.53 Lopez,JA 1.0 1 0 0 0 2 16 11 2.11 Cook L 5-8 2.0 4 1 1 0 1 30 23 4.97 9.0 14 6 6 3 6 140 93 Mil: Cruz,E inserted at 3b in the 7th Ginter,K batted for de los Santos in the 9th Col: Reyes,R batted for Bernero in the 6th Stynes inserted at 3b in the 8th Bellhorn batted for Cook in the 9th E-Young,Eri. 2B-Jenkins(23), Wilson,Pr(43), Norton,G(14). 3B-Sexson(1), Womack(6), Norton,G(1). HR-Young,Eri(14), Walker,L(13). RBI-Young,Eri 3(38), Vander Wal(40), Ginter,K(18), Uribe(16), Wilson,Pr(98), Walker,L(48), Norton,G 2(20). SB-Young,Eri(14), Uribe(3), Wilson,Pr(8). K-Sexson 2, Vander Wal, Helms, Perez,ER, Kinney, Womack 2, Wilson,Pr, Walker,L, Payton, Norton,G, Estalella 3, Stark 2. BB-Clark,B, Jenkins, Vander Wal, Uribe, Walker,L, Payton, Norton,G, Estalella. SF-Vander Wal, Uribe. HBP-Helms, Womack. HB-Kinney, Lopez,JA. WP-Stark. GWRBI: Ginter,K Temperature: 81, Sky: clear, Wind: out to center at 1 MPH. Attendance: 34,988 Game Time: 3:12