Sheffield Puts Big Hurt on Brewers

After being hit by a fastball on the meaty part of his left leg just below the knee Wednesday night, Gary Sheffield left the game, saying later, “It went numb and then the swelling started going into the knee. It made my feet jelly . . . no feeling.”

Thursday afternoon, in front of 34,613 at Dodger Stadium, Sheffield made Milwaukee Brewer starter Jamey Wright’s knees turn to jelly.

Sheffield returned to the Dodger lineup and hit solo home runs in his first two at-bats, helping the Dodgers to their sixth consecutive victory, 8-6.

But it took an eighth-inning Dodger rally and an accompanying Brewer meltdown to get the Dodgers their 16th triumph in their last 21 games.

“I know it [felt better] for two at-bats, that’s for sure,” Manager Jim Tracy said of Sheffield’s leg. “He was very sore last night. . . . You’re not going to walk out there, after being drilled by a fastball, at 100%.”

After Thursday’s game, Sheffield was limping around the Dodger clubhouse in obvious pain and declined to speak with reporters, posing doubts about his availability for tonight’s game at Colorado.

He hit his first-inning shot on a 1-and-0, two-out pitch by Wright, lunging at the pitch and lining it over the left-field wall.

In the third inning, Sheffield jumped on another 1-and-0 offering by Wright with two out, crushing this one to the black tarp on the right-center pavilion.

“Sheff’s that kind of hitter,” Milwaukee Manager Davey Lopes said. “He’s one of the most feared hitters in the National League. Most hitters would have missed the first ball Sheff hit out. If they could hit it, they might get a single, certainly not a home run.

“Now the second one, well, a lot of guys could have hit that ball out.”

Sheffield’s two-homer game gave him 20 home runs for the season and it was his third multi-homer game of the year, the 22nd of his career.

The two homers gave him home runs in three consecutive at-bats against Wright, his solo shot beating Wright and the Brewers on opening day, 1-0.

“[Wright is] probably disgusted with himself after what Sheff did to him,” Lopes said. “Sometimes good hitters hit good pitchers.”

The Dodgers (54-42) are 12 games over .500 for the first time since the close of the 1997 season when they finished 88-74. They are one game ahead of the Houston Astros for the National League wild-card berth and 1 1/2 games behind the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West.

Despite blowing a 6-4 lead, Dodger reliever Matt Herges (8-6) picked up the victory, tying Minnesota’s Bob Wells for most relief wins in the major leagues, and closer Jeff Shaw pitched a perfect ninth for his 27th save.

Paul Lo Duca, who threw out three runners trying to steal, also had three hits, two of them doubles.

He led off the eighth with a first-pitch double into the left-field corner off Milwaukee reliever David Weathers (2-4) before Adrian Beltre laid down a sacrifice bunt. But second baseman Ronnie Belliard, covering first on the play, pulled his foot on the ensuing throw as Lo Duca moved to third.

Alex Cora then struck out, but the ball popped out of Brewer catcher Raul Casanova’s glove on the third strike and, after a moment of confusion, Cora took off for first base. Casanova couldn’t throw, because first baseman Richie Sexson failed to cover, thinking Cora had fouled off the pitch, and the bases were loaded with none out.

Tracy sent left-handed Dave Hansen to pinch-hit, but Lopes countered by replacing Weathers with lefty Ray King.

Right-handed hitting Jeff Reboulet came off the bench for Hansen and, two pitches later, grounded a single into left field past a drawn-in infield, scoring Lo Duca. Tom Goodwin followed with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Beltre.

The Brewers out-hit the Dodgers, 12-7, but two errors and several mental mistakes opened the doors for L.A.

“When you go through a streak like this, it seems like the other team finds a way to capitalize on your mistakes,” Lopes said. “And when you’re going good, you get away with things.”

Said Tracy: “Offensively, we executed the way we needed to execute at this time of the year.”