Hamelin's 9th Inning HR Lifts Brewers

Bob Hamelin will never be confused with Babe Ruth, but he did call his game-winning home run Friday night.

Hamelin hit a two-run homer in the ninth and Jeff Juden pitched eight strong innings as the Milwaukee Brewers won their fifth straight, 2-1 over the Chicago White Sox.

"Bob told me he was going to hit it," Juden said. "He said, 'Jeff, go out there and shut those guys down (in the eighth) and I'll hit it. I was sitting on the bench in amazement (when he homered)."

"I did tell him that," Hamelin said. "I was a little frustrated with some of my at-bats."

After Bill Simas (2-3) gave up a one-out single to Marquis Grissom, Hamelin hit a 1-1 pitch over the right-field fence for his fourth homer of the season. Hamelin was batting only .162 coming into the game.

"I threw a bad pitch," Simas said. "I feel bad. I let my teammates down."

The loss broke Chicago's streak of 107 straight wins when leading after eight innings, the longest such stretch in the majors. Chicago is now 31-1 when leading after eight this year.

Juden did more than just shut down the White Sox in the eighth. He struck out Frank Thomas, Albert Belle and Robin Ventura, the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 hitters, in succession.

"It was only because Hamelin told me to," said Juden (7-6), who allowed on run and three hits, struck out six and walked three.

"I didn't take my eyes off of him the whole inning," Milwaukee manager Phil Garner said of Juden. "He was bound and determined to get through the eighth."

Bob Wickman pitched the ninth for his 10th save.

James Baldwin pitched 6 1-3 shutout innings for Chicago in his return to the starting rotation. He gave up five hits, walked two and struck out three in his ninth start of the year. The right-hander was demoted to the bullpen after a May 6 start dropped his record to 2-3 with a 7.57 ERA.

He had made one emergency start June 20 for Jim Parque against Minnesota and was inserted back into the rotation to replace struggling Jason Bere.

"I feel I'm back and hope things stay where they are," said Baldwin, who admitted he was tired after throwing 72 pitches. "I want to work back up to 100 pitches."

Thomas' RBI single in the first gave the White Sox a 1-0 lead and held up until the ninth. With one out, Mike Caruso singled, stole second, reached third on catcher Bobby Hughes' errant throw, and scored on Thomas' single.

Milwaukee had runners at first and second with one out in the fourth, but Baldwin got Hamelin to hit into an inning-ending double play.

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