Aggressive Play Helps Sink Phils

A slide at home plate helped end the Philadelphia Phillies` five-game winning streak. Trailing by two runs, the Brewers scored four times in the second inning against Nelson Figueroa and went on to a 5-4 victory Thursday.

The rally began when Mark Sweeney walked with one out and scored on a double by Jose Hernandez. The throw from shortstop Jimmy Rollins to the plate arrived ahead of Sweeney, whose slide dislodged the ball from the grasp of catcher Johnny Estrada.

"You contribute any way you can," Sweeney said. "When I was halfway to the plate, I knew it was going to be close. He caught the ball and, luckily, I got a good piece of the glove with my forearm and the ball popped out. I ended up hitting it with my elbow and I hit the glove pretty good.

"It was just one of those perfect timing plays that turned out pretty big for us. Anytime you can contribute to a win, you feel pretty good about it."

Phillies manager Larry Bowa thought the slide was the turning point. "If we make the play at the plate, he goes unscathed," Bowa said of Figueroa. "It was a big play. But it just one of those things. Regardless, he came back and kept us in the game."

Milwaukee manager Davey Lopes called it "an aggressive play."

"The ball was there and the collision obviously had some kind of impact in dislodging the baseball," Lopes said. "They did everything right, it`s just that the ball and the runner arrived at the same time."

After the play, Figueroa (4-3) struck out Luis Lopez and Henry Blanco was intentionally walked with two outs Pitcher Ruben Quevedo (2-1) singled home the tying run and Lou Collier tripled over the head of center fielder Doug Glanville for a 4-2 lead.

"I`m not swinging the bat real good," said Collier, who is hitting .125 in 14 games, "but every day I go out there I feel I`m capable of making a contribution."

Scott Rolen hit a two-run homer off reliever Ray King in the eighth. Rolen also hit an RBI groundout in the first and Figuero singled home a run with two outs in the second.

Jeromy Burnitz hit the first pitch of the third inning for his 26th home run and his 500th RBI since joining the Brewers late in the 1996 season.

Quevedo, making his second strong start since being acquired from the Cubs in late July, retired 15 consecutive batters starting in the second inning. He allowed four hits in seven innings, struck out seven and walked one.

Curtis Leskanic pitched the ninth for his 13th save in 18 chances as Milwaukee stopped a three-game losing streak and won for just the eighth time in its last 32 games. After allowing runners to reach first and second with one out, Leskanic retired pinch-hitter Kevin Jordan on a game-ending grounder.

Figueroa gave up five runs and five hits in six innings. "It was just one bad inning," he said. "It was one of those innings where you want to try and do as much damage control as you can, and keep it to a minimum. That was biggest difference in the game. Then you make one bad pitch (to Burnitz) and it ends up being the game-winning home run."

Notes:
The Phillies and Brewers tied the season series 3-3, the visitors winning two of three each series. ... Figueroa`s single in the second raised his batting average to .333 (6-for-18). He finished 1-for-2 and is hitting .316. ... The Phillies have had one six-game winning streak and three five-game winning streaks this season. ... Quevedo caught Marlon Anderson`s liner for the first out of the sixth. ... The Brewers have used 41 players, five fewer than they used in 1998, their first season in the NL.

Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News