Brewers 7, Giants 0

Greg Beacham

Sunday, May 21, 2000 | 10:40 a.m.

MILWAUKEE - Jose Hernandez's grand slam capped a six-run first inning Saturday night as the Milwaukee Brewers beat San Francisco 7-0, the Giants' eighth straight loss.

Jeff D'Amico (2-1) made a remarkable return to County Stadium, allowing four hits over seven shutout innings in his first start in Milwaukee since Sept. 27, 1997. After missing all but one inning of the last two seasons with shoulder problems, he has allowed one earned run in three starts this year for an 0.43 ERA.

Milwaukee won its third straight.

The Giants need to win the series finale Sunday to avoid an 0-9 road trip. San Francisco, swept by Colorado and Atlanta earlier, has fallen from second place to fourth in the NL West during the slide.

Six of the Brewers' first seven hitters of the game reached base against Mark Gardner (2-2). The rally began with third baseman Bill Mueller's two-base throwing error on Ron Belliard's grounder, which was followed by consecutive run-scoring doubles down the right-field line by Mark Loretta and Jeromy Burnitz.

After Charlie Hayes singled and Marquis Grissom walked, Hernandez hit a shot that barely cleared the right-field fence for his fourth homer of the year. Hernandez's only other grand slam in the majors came on Aug. 31, 1995.

After a dismal April in which he hit .173, Hernandez is finally starting to warm up to his first job as an everyday player. He had a two-run triple on Friday night.

Belliard added a 410-foot solo homer to deepest center in the second inning for the Brewers, who appear to have shaken their early-season offensive woes. They scored 11 runs against San Francisco on Friday.

D'Amico was in complete control. He struck out three and gave up just one walk while throwing 72 of his 113 pitches for strikes.

He allowed just two runners to reach second base and retired nine of his last 10 batters. After being called up from Triple-A Indianapolis on May 9, he allowed just one earned run in 14 innings of two road starts.

Gardner retired his last 10 hitters before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the eighth. The Giants staff has allowed 60 earned runs during the current losing streak.

Barry Bonds was in San Francisco's lineup for the second straight game after missing four with a back injury. He grounded out three times and struck out. Notes: Milwaukee will play six home games in the next five days while making up for rainouts. ... Hernandez's grand slam was Milwaukee's second of the season. Henry Blanco had the first on May 12. ... In the third inning, Burnitz made a nifty running catch of Doug Mirabelli's foul ball just one step from the stands. ... Milwaukee's previous two games - a 16-inning outing on Tuesday against Houston and Friday night's 10-inning game with the Giants - lasted exactly 10 combined hours.