Yount Finds a Hideaway Only in the Batter’s Box : Baseball: As Brewers’ star approaches 3,000 hits, it gets harder for him to find time alone.

MILWAUKEE —  There’s one place where Robin Yount can go these days to escape and forget about his chase of 3,000 hits. There are no reporters, no teammates and no questions awaiting him there.

It’s a small area where he’s been so many times during his 19 years with the Milwaukee Brewers. It’s a place where he has excelled, where he must concentrate and then react.

It’s the batter’s box.

“In the box pretty much if you have your mind elsewhere your chances are pretty slim,” of getting a hit, Yount said Monday when his fourth-inning single off Cleveland’s Dennis Cook pulled him within two hits of 3,000.

“It’s going to happen when it’s going to happen,” Yount said after the Brewers beat theIndians 2-0 as a Labor Day crowd of 41,348, including his family, cheered his every move on a 1-for-3 day.

“I will go up and try to get a hit every time up,” he said. “When it happens is out of my control.

“You just hope the rest of the guys aren’t distracted and are able to concentrate and play their game. That’s the main concern here, what we do as a team. I’d hate to have this take away from that.”

Yount singled in his first at-bat Tuesday against Cleveland to pull within one hit of 3,000 and resumed pursuit of the historic hit Wednesday, when he grounded out and struck in his first two plate appearances against the Indians.

But Brewers manager Phil Garner said Yount need not worry about being a distraction.

“We’re happy for him. We’re excited for him. It’s just a great personal achievement. Robin would be the first to tell you that he’s not playing for 3,000,” Garner said.

“We’re pulling for Robin too, but we’ve also got a pennant race.”

Rookie right-hander Cal Eldred knows all about a pennant race. He won his sixth straight game Monday, dropped his ERA to 1.30 and has only allowed two earned runs in 44 2-3 innings.

“Cal was the key to this game,” said Yount.

But Yount’s quest helped Eldred, too.

“Actually it takes a little bit of the steam off you,” said Eldred, 7-1 since being called up July 15.

“It’s just exciting. It’s awesome when you sit down and think only 17 players have done that (reached 3,000). For me just getting started, it’s just unbelievable.”

Eldred has not given up a run in 58 1-3 of the 62 1-3 innings he’s pitched this season. On Monday he gave up only four hits in seven innings.

Greg Vaughn hit his 19th homer in the second. Yount singled in the fourth, stole second and went to third on a passed ball, scoring on Paul Molitor’s single.

“I’d love to see him get his 3,000th,” Indians manager Mike Hargrove said. “Robin and I were rookies together in 1974. He’s always been one of my favorites. I’d love to see him get three hits just as long as we get more runs than they do.”

The Indians loaded the bases with one out in the sixth on two singles and a walk, but Eldred struck out Glenallen Hill and got Mark Lewis on a long drive to right to end the threat.

Cleveland’s Kenny Lofton broke the American League rookie record for steals with his 51st and 52nd. The previous record of 50 was set by John Cangelosi in 1986.

“It’s nice to get a record as a rookie,” said Lofton, who has three more stolen bases than Brewers rookie Pat Listach. “My main concern is just to play every day and learn as much as I can this year.”

Only three umpires worked the game. Terry Craft missed the game because of travel problems.

Yount also got off to a slow start in Wednesday’s game. He struck out twice and grounded out and threw his bat and helmet in frustration after the second strikeout.