ATLANTA - Darin Erstad excels at contact sports. Including baseball.
A punter at Nebraska and a high school hockey star in North Dakota, the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Erstad barreled over catcher Johnny Estrada to score on Garret Anderson's go-ahead double Monday night, leading the Los Angeles Angels to a 4-2 victory over the Braves in the first meeting between the teams.
Erstad planted his left shoulder into Estrada's facemask in a violent home-plate collision in the eighth inning, giving Los Angeles the lead and sending Estrada to the hospital.
"There is no intent to injure at all there," Erstad said. "I just hope he's okay."
Atlanta's John Smoltz retired the first 14 and carried a 2-1 lead into the eighth, but the Angels put runners at the corners with one out.
Anderson's drive to right drove in Chone Figgins from third and Erstad from first.
Estrada caught second baseman Marcus Giles' relay at the plate, but Erstad, who helped Nebraska win the 1994 national championship, delivered a shoulder-first blow, knocking the ball loose while knocking off Estrada's helmet.
While a groggy Estrada reached for the ball, Erstad reached back to tag the plate for a 3-2 Angels lead.
Estrada clutched his head before receiving attention from Braves trainer Jeff Porter. He and assistant trainer Jim Lovell helped Estrada off the field.
Estrada was conscious but was taken to Piedmont Hospital to be examined for a possible concussion and neck injury.
Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia defended the play, saying, "It's baseball. ...
"Erstad had to make a decision to either slide or to try to get through the block," Scioscia said. "It's a clean play."
Some Braves players objected to Erstad hitting Estrada's head instead of his body, or possibly sliding for the plate.
"It depends on what you guys call clean," first baseman Julio Franco said.
"I don't mind the hit, I mind the location of the hit. He could have hit lower, that's fine with me. Hitting a guy like that, in his face, could cause major damage to his health."
BREWERS 4, YANKEES 3: Geoff Jenkins ran down Derek Jeter's drive in the rightfield corner for the final out as Milwaukee handed New York its eighth loss in nine games.
With pressure mounting from impatient owner George Steinbrenner, the Yankees fell to 1-6 on their 12-game road trip and dipped below .500 at 28-29.
Junior Spivey broke a tie at 3 with a homer leading off the sixth, sending Randy Johnson's first pitch over the leftfield wall.
ORIOLES 4, PIRATES 3: Rafael Palmeiro's tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth helped visiting Baltimore come back after it wasted a three-run lead, and Miguel Tejada and B.J. Surhoff homered.
With Melvin Mora on second and Tejada on first in the eighth, Mike Gonzalez threw a pitch in the dirt to Palmeiro that deflected to the left of catcher Humberto Cota. Tejada, who was halfway to second, appeared to be picked off when Mora didn't move off second, but Cota's errant throw was wide and Mora moved to third. He scored on Palmeiro's fly.
WHITE SOX 9, ROCKIES 3: Freddy Garcia retired 22 straight batters after a rough start to help visiting Chicago to a rout. In the first, Garcia gave up a single, then hit Todd Helton with a pitch to bring up Brad Hawpe with two outs. Hawpe sent a 3-and-1 pitch over the centerfield fence to put Colorado up 3-2. Garcia didn't allow another baserunner.
BLUE JAYS 4, CUBS 1: Gustavo Chacin pitched seven shutout innings, Reed Johnson hit a three-run homer and Toronto won in its first trip to Wrigley Field.
DODGERS 5, TIGERS 3: Jeff Kent made an out after seven straight hits, then bounced back to hit a three-run homer and drive in four for host Los Angeles.
National League
D'BACKS 10, PHILLIES 8: Shawn Green put an emphatic end to Philadelphia's six-game winning streak, driving in four for visiting Arizona. The Phillies nearly came back, scoring four off Brian Bruney in the ninth and putting runners on the corners with two outs. Javier Lopez came on to strike out pinch-hitter Todd Pratt.
