Leadoff man Jeromy Burnitz reached base four times, scored three runs, drove in two and hit his fourth home run to lead Milwaukee past the Oakland Athletics, 11-7, last night.

Nobody felt better about the victory than Karl (1-5).

"I used to get ahead of guys, get the ball in play. And it just seems lately like I'm trying to make perfect pitches and strike people out rather than just letting them hit the ball," Karl said. "But there were signs of it this evening where I went right after guys."

Karl, who won for the first time since Sept. 14, was lifted after a five-inning, 121-pitch effort.

"It wasn't a great performance," Brewers manager Phil Garner said. But he didn't want to over-analyze it. "Let's jump for joy. He won. We finally scored runs for him."

Karl gave up three runs on five hits and four walks, but the A's left seven men on base against him.

Karl watched his teammates turn a 3-2 deficit into an 8-3 lead with a fifth-inning rally capped by Jose Valentin's bases-loaded triple. That dwindled to 8-7 when Bob Wickman gave up four runs in the seventh, including Mark McGwire's 12th homer.

Gerald Williams hit a two-run homer in the seventh and Burnitz added and RBI single in the eighth to put the game away.