National League: Brewers’ victory costly

Milwaukee wins, 5-2, but loses two outfielders

? Just when the downtrodden Milwaukee Brewers finally found a reason to celebrate, they discovered another reason to mourn.

The Brewers lost two starting outfielders to injuries Monday night in Milwaukee’s 5-2 victory against the Houston Astros in which Jose Hernandez homered and drove in four runs off Roy Oswalt.

Milwaukee players and medical trainers assist Geoff Jenkins after he dislocated his right ankle returning to third base on a double by Tyler Houston. The Brewers defeated the Astros, 5-2, Monday night in Milwaukee.

Geoff Jenkins dislocated his right ankle and tore ligaments in the joint and Alex Sanchez sprained and cut his left hand and bruised his left knee.

Sanchez expects to miss only a few games, but Jenkins’ season could be over.

Jose Cabrera (3-4) allowed two runs on five hits in a career-high six innings, and the Brewers (24-45) moved past the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (23-44) out of the major league cellar.

But the Brewers were in no mood to celebrate after losing Jenkins, one of their clubhouse leaders, and Sanchez, their speedy rookie. Both players were beginning to emerge from early-season struggles.

Jenkins hurt his ankle lunging back to third base in the second inning. X-rays were negative.

Team physician William Raasch said it was a “significant dislocation” with “lots of ligament damage” and that Jenkins would miss at least two months.

“That’s gruesome. When a guy’s laying on the ground screaming and it’s one of your own and part of your family for 6-8 months, that stays with you a little bit,” said Tyler Houston, who was on second when Jenkins hurt his ankle.

Astros third baseman Geoff Blum had an even closer view.

“That’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard and seen,” he said.

Houston said the Brewers were downcast after Jenkins was taken to the hospital.

“It was a weird feeling,” he said. “Richie (Sexson) and I talked about it on the field. It’s almost like you didn’t want to run the bases. It was a weird feeling after that. Things kind of slowed down after that and you weren’t really as amped up for the game.”

Manager Jerry Royster moved Sanchez to left field a position he hadn’t played this season and just two innings later, Sanchez hurt himself when he slammed into the wall along the left-field foul line.

“Some sad things happened to a couple players tonight,” Astros manager Jimy Williams said. “Jenkins got hurt pretty bad. His great catch (in the top of the second inning) probably saved a couple runs. You hate to see something like that.”

Sanchez, who was chasing a flyball hit by Lance Berkman, jammed his hand into the railing as he hit the wall and fell to the dirt in pain. The ball scooted past him and Berkman raced around the bases with an inside-the-park home run, his 21st.

Two trainers carried Sanchez off the field through the left-field gate. Sanchez was replaced by Alex Ochoa.

After replacing Jenkins, Matt Stairs scored on Robert Machado’s single for a 1-0 lead. Berkman’s homer tied it an inning later.

Milwaukee went ahead 4-1 in the fifth when Hernandez hit an opposite-field home run off Oswalt (7-5) with two men on.

After Hildago made it 4-2 in the fifth with a leadoff homer, Hernandez drove in another run in the sixth with a fielder’s choice groundball.

Mike DeJean pitched the ninth for his 14th save in 17 chances.