Kendall Runs Along Line of Unusual

Those were not typos in the box score of Monday night’s game between the San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates.

A 9-8 Pittsburgh victory produced two unusual lines.

San Francisco second baseman Jeff Kent: 5-2-5-5.

Pittsburgh catcher Jason Kendall: 5-0-5-0.

Kent hit for the cycle, collecting a homer, triple, double and two singles, and drove in five runs.

Kendall also had five hits, including two doubles, but neither scored nor drove in a run.

“I’m happy we won and happy I got five hits, but it’s hard to believe you can go five for five with no runs and no RBI,” said Kendall, a Torrance High product. “I’ve had a lot of games with less hits in which I’ve felt like I’ve done more to help the team win. It’s weird.”

Which is rarer: The cycle or a five for five with no runs and no RBIs? The Elias Sports Bureau, which maintains baseball’s official statistics, sided with Kendall, documenting only seven 5-0-5-0 games since 1970.

The Pirate-Giant series produced one other unusual event: Giant first baseman J.T. Snow, who gave up switch-hitting this year, homered against a left-handed pitcher, Scott Sauerbeck, while swinging left-handed Tuesday night. The former Angel couldn’t remember the last time that had happened.

A .213 career average as a right-hander and decreasing chances as Manager Dusty Baker platooned some influenced Snow to swing strictly left-handed this year. He began a trip two for 25 against left-handers but concluded it Wednesday with three hits in his last four at-bats.

“I’m learning on the job,” he said. “I’m trying to learn from at-bat to at-bat.”

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Hideo Nomo, released by the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs and rejected by the Cleveland Indians, gets the first test today in what will probably be his last major league chance as he starts for the Milwaukee Brewers at San Francisco.

Nomo’s suddenly nomadic course characterizes a depleted pitching market, but that did not stop three teams from sending key but struggling starters to triple A the past few weeks. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays optioned Tony Saunders, the No. 1 selection in the expansion draft; the Cincinnati Reds demoted Brett Tomko; and the Colorado Rockies optioned Jamey Wright.

Wright took it well: “Everybody tells me, ‘You’ve got the stuff to be a 20-game winner. You’ve got Kevin Brown’s sinker.’ That’s great, but you’ve still got to throw strikes. I need to go down and get my mechanics to where I’m throwing everything for strikes any time in the count.”

Tomko took it poorly: “I’m bitter; how can I not be? It’s hard to see the positives of this. I’ll just go down, kick the crap out of a couple of teams and show [the Reds] what they could have had me doing for them.”

Add struggling starters: Stan Spencer and Matt Clement are 0-7 as the San Diego Padres’ Nos. 4 and 5 pitchers, but then the Padres are next to last in team batting in the NL, with only Tony Gwynn and part-time catcher Greg Myers above .300. With Cal Ripken and Wade Boggs on the disabled list, only Gwynn is left standing in the race to 3,000 hits. He should reach that milestone late this month, at his current pace.

For the record: It was former Dodger and Atlanta Brave broadcaster Joe Simpson who was prevented by Dodger Stadium security from crossing a blue tarp and chatting with Charlie Hough at the batting cage recently and who complained about it on air, not colleague Don Sutton.