Eight different Brewers scored at least one run and six contributed an RBI, including Ohka, who batted left-handed for the first time in his career and chipped in four RBIs in Thursday's 12-6 win over the Rockies at Miller Park.
"Utter disbelief," fellow starter Chris Capuano said with a smile of Ohka's afternoon with the bat. "Actually, when he tried it in the cage he had a pretty decent swing, so I guess it's not that much of a surprise. But I don't think anybody expected that kind of production from the nine hole today."
It was not just the nine hole. Geoff Jenkins scored three runs and Prince Fielder hit a three-run home run for the balanced Brewers, who built leads of 7-0 and 8-3 before the Rockies came back to make it a two-run game.
"It got a little hairy," manager Ned Yost said.
The Brewers' improved bullpen held Colorado scoreless over the final 3 2/3 innings, and the Brewers won for the seventh time in their last nine games and finished off a sweep for the first time since winning three straight over the Indians from June 16-22. They won all three games wire-to-wire, which was not bad for a team that has allowed opponents to score first 76 times this season, tops in the Majors.
"What means [something] is that we won all three games. That really means something," Yost said. "For us to get going, we needed a sweep somewhere. Two out of three is great, but you don't really make up much ground."
That's right, the Brewers are thinking postseason as the calendar nears September. And why not? If Ohka can have a four-RBI afternoon, anything seems possible.
He entered the game a career .130 hitter with 11 RBIs in six Major League seasons with at least one at-bat. All 230 of Ohka's previous at-bats came as a right-handed hitter, but he stepped across the plate on Thursday, surprising even the manager.
"Teammates were laughing," Ohka said. "Everybody just smiled at me."
It was a good move. Ohka was credited with a bases-loaded RBI on catcher's interference in a four-run Brewers second inning, grounded a two-run single to left field in the third inning and lined an RBI single to center field in the fifth. Both hits and all four RBIs came at the expense of losing pitcher Josh Fogg (9-8).
The Rockies made it a ballgame as Todd Helton hit a two-run home run and Fogg answered Ohka's offense with an RBI double of his own. With the Brewers leading, 8-3, right fielder Brad Hawpe pounded a three-run homer that knocked Ohka out of the game after 5 1/3 innings.
All six runs were earned against Ohka, who surrendered seven hits.
"My pitching was OK," Ohka said. "I made some mistakes, but not to every hitter. I made a couple of mistakes."
Said Yost: "Tomo did fine. The [home run] pitch to Helton was the pitch we wanted him to make; it was up and in and we were trying to get [Helton] to swing and he hit it. That's a pretty good piece of hitting."
It was 8-6 when the Rockies loaded the bases against reliever Jose Capellan with one out in the seventh inning, but Capellan struck out Matt Holliday and Brian Shouse induced an inning-ending line out by Hawpe.
After the Brewers extended the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning on a pinch-hit single by Brady Clark and Fielder's three-run homer, Dan Kolb pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Rick Helling worked around a hit in the ninth to preserve Ohka's win.
"I think everybody's got confidence in our bullpen right now," Yost said. "Even though it got close, we felt like we'd be OK."
Now it's on to Florida and Houston, where the Brewers will hope to stay hot. They are 23-39 on the road this season, a major reason for the team's sub-.500 record (62-65).
"That's a big win," said Bill Hall, who put the Brewers on the board with a solo homer in the second. "We all know what happened to Kansas City last night, and we knew we had to keep pushing."
The Royals scored 10 runs in the first inning Wednesday night but ended up losing to the Indians.
"Occasionally you'll have days like today, when everybody hits the ball hard," Hall said. "Even Tomo. It's fun when it happens."