Wednesday, June 12, 2002
Athletics 11, Brewers 2
The Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. — Barry Zito's nasty changeup was the Milwaukee Brewers' downfall. Zito won his seventh straight, allowing two hits over eight innings as the Oakland Athletics beat the Milwaukee Brewers 11-2 Tuesday night.
“My changeup was really good,” he said. “When you can get that changeup down the zone, then you usually have some success.”
Zito (8-2) has not lost since April 30 against the Yankees. He struck out four and walked one, and lowered his ERA to 2.12 over his last eight outings.
“Barry Zito was Barry Zito tonight and pretty much shut us down,” Brewers manager Jerry Royster said. “We knew coming in that he was going to be tough, and when we spotted him five runs in the first we knew it was going to be tougher.”
For the second straight night Jermaine Dye drove in four runs, including a three-run double in the A's five-run first, and Oakland extended its winning streak to a season-high six games.
The Brewers have dropped six straight, matching their season high.
Nelson Figueroa (1-4) allowed at least one home run in each of his eight previous starts, and Tuesday was no different when Dye clobbered a solo homer over the wall in straightaway center in the third inning.
Figueroa was shaky from the start, loading the bases with no outs in the first inning then walking David Justice. Dye hit a bases-clearing double off the wall in right-center, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Eric Chavez's single.
Adam Piatt struck out for the first out of the inning, and John Mabry grounded into a double play to end it.
Dye's homer was his second in as many games. On Monday night, he also had four RBIs in a 8-6 A's victory, including a three-run homer.
The Brewers avoided the shutout in the fifth inning with Geoff Jenkins' solo homer to right.
Terrence Long, batting second for the first time this season, added a two-run double to the wall in right in the eighth inning, then scored on Miguel Tejada's 13th homer.
Long finished 3-for-5 with two RBI. Dye was 2-for-4.
A's manager Art Howe said he would have let Zito finish if the A's hadn't stretched out the bottom of the eighth so much offensively.
“A two-hitter, through eight,” Howe said. “It's hard to beat that.”
Zito has a 14-game winning streak at the Coliseum in regular-season games, dating to last year. It is the longest winning streak for an A's pitcher at home since Kenny Rogers won 15.
Notes: Zito's career-high winning streak is nine games, set last year from Aug. 20 to Oct. 7. ... The A's have not committed an error in a season-high nine games. The Brewers are 3-11 against left-handers this season, with another lefty, Mark Mulder, on tap for Wednesday. The Brewers have lost their last four against southpaws. ... A's 2B Randy Velarde had X-rays taken on his left wrist which confirmed it was just bruised. He had a scare last Friday night when he was hit by a pitch against Houston, and has made just one appearance since then, as a pinch runner on Sunday. Velarde is day-to-day. ... It was the Brewers' third losing streak of five or more games this season.
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Athletics 11, Brewers 2 
