Rockies' Kim sours Brewers in longest career outing

DENVER (AP) -- The Milwaukee Brewers' lineup struggled to figure out Byung-Hyun Kim. A lot of hitters have had that problem recently.

Kim allowed one run in eight innings and Todd Helton homered and drove in three runs to lead the Colorado Rockies over the Brewers 8-2 Wednesday night.

"When he can get the ball in the spots he wants, he's tough," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said of Kim. "He has some deception and his pitches have some late life."

Kim (7-6) yielded seven hits, struck out five and didn't walk a batter in the longest outing of his career. He has allowed only four runs in 33 innings over his last five starts at Coors Field, an ERA of 1.09 over than span.

Kim set his previous mark for longest outing with 7 2/3 innings in a win over San Diego in his last start on Friday.

"Kim was the difference and his velocity was deceptive," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said. "The board had him at 88 mph, but from the dugout he seemed to be throwing 95."

Brad Hawpe added two hits and two RBI for Colorado, which took two of three from the Brewers to win its second straight series after losing five consecutive series.

The Brewers reached Kim for three doubles, but he managed to escape any damage.

"He is a warrior out there on the mound," catcher Danny Ardoin said of Kim, who wasn't available to reporters after the game. "He's not a very big guy, but he's a warrior at heart."

He gave up a two-out double to Tony Graffanino in the second but got Bill Hall to ground out to end the inning. Damian Miller hit a leadoff double in the third but was caught off third base on Tony Gwynn Jr.'s grounder to shortstop Clint Barmes.

"Same old BK," said Miller, who had two hits and caught Kim while they were teammates with Arizona from 1999-2002. "He's still tough on righties and pounds the ball inside on them."

Gabe Gross doubled to left with one out in the fourth and Kim retired Geoff Jenkins and Graffanino to end the inning.

Colorado scored four runs in the first against Tomo Ohka (3-2). Helton doubled in Jamey Carroll, who led off with a single and advanced to second on Barmes' sacrifice. Hawpe and Luis Gonzalez had RBI singles and Choo Freeman drove in a run with a fielder's choice.

"They didn't hit anything hard in the inning, but the ball found holes," Yost said. "That inning and the way Kim shut us down was the ballgame."

Ohka settled down after the first inning, allowing only singles to Kim and Carroll over the next four innings. He left after walking Ardoin to start the Colorado seventh. He allowed six runs and eight hits, struck out two and walked two.

Helling replaced Ohka and gave up an RBI single to Barmes and a two-run homer to Helton that made it 8-0.

Gwynn hit an RBI single off Kim in the eighth and Prince Fielder had a solo home run in the ninth off Jeremy Affeldt.

The Brewers managed only five runs in the three-game series at Coors Field.

"We couldn't put anything together tonight or in any of the games," Yost said. "A lot of it was their pitchers pounding the ball for strikes and their defense making plays."

Game notes
The start of the game was delayed 10 minutes by rain. ... Gwynn made his first major league start and had his first career RBI and stolen base. ... 3B Garrett Atkins, who has started 103 of Colorado's 107 games, was given the night off. ... Milwaukee dropped to 19-34 away from home.