Enough power
Big inning fuels victory
One big inning was just enough for the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night.
Tyler Saladino hit a two-run home run in the third and Jesús Aguilar hit a three-run shot four batters later, and those two shots held up the rest of the way as the Brewers beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-4, at Miller Park.
It was the fifth victory in as many games on the home stand for Milwaukee, which also got another solid start from rookie Freddy Peralta. The Brewers are 18 games over .500 for the first time since June 30, 2014, when they were 51-33.
On the strength of the Saladino and Aguilar homers, Milwaukee appeared to have the game in hand heading to the seventh when Atlanta quickly roughed up Jacob Barnes.
The right-hander failed to record an out in relief of Peralta, surrendering four singles and a walk to the five batters he faced as the Braves scored three times to whittle the Brewers' lead to 5-4.
Manager Craig Counsell pulled Barnes for Dan Jennings, and the lefthander responded by retiring the next three batters to keep Milwaukee in front.
Jeremy Jeffress and Corey Knebel followed with scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth, with Knebel recording his 11th save.
For the second straight start, Peralta slogged his way through a ragged first inning. The first three batters reached base but only one scored, with Peralta throwing 30 pitches to finally retire the Braves.
He recovered to retire eight straight
batters through the third inning, with the offense teeing off on fireballing Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz in the bottom of the third.
Manny Piña started it all off with a bloop single to short left, and Saladino followed with a homer to left – his first since May 23 – on an 0-2 pitch.
After Peralta struck out, Eric Thames singled and Christian Yelich was hit on the inside of the left knee to put two on for Aguilar. He crushed a 98-mph fastball that caromed off the scoreboard almost halfway up in center to up Milwaukee's lead to 5-1.
The five earned runs in the inning matched the total Foltynewicz had allowed in his previous nine starts combined dating to May 10, a streak in which he was 4-2 with a 0.87 ERA.
Peralta (4-1) allowed just one hit and two walks over his final five innings before giving way to Barnes.
FIVE TAKEAWAYS
RIGHT AT HOME: Thames had an interesting initial few innings in right field. The highlight was a terrific full-length diving catch down the right-field line to rob Kurt Suzuki of potential extra bases. The lowlight was a try at a running catch on a slicing fly ball hit by Johan Camargo that Thames initially gloved but couldn't corral completely before the ball popped out and plopped onto the top of the wall. It was ruled a dead ball, and Camargo eventually grounded out.
SAVING GRACE: When Dan Jennings converted his second career save on Thursday, he became the sixth Brewers pitcher to save a game this season. Only the Philadelphia Phillies with eight have had more pitchers record a save to this point. The San Francisco Giants and Tampa Bay Rays have also have had six.
GOING DEEP: The Brewers have homered in 12 straight games, their longest streak of the year, and longest since they homered in 13 straight from April 8-21, 2017. The Brewers entered the day at 30-6 when hitting two or more home runs in a game and at 45-14 when hitting a home run. The team’s .763 winning percentage is the best in the major leagues.
HIURA HONORED: Second baseman Keston Hiura, the Brewers' top overall prospect, will be the Brewers' lone representative in the All-Star Futures Game, which will take place July 15 at Nationals Park in Washington. Hiura is hitting .322 with 27 doubles, nine homers and 27 RBI to go along with an OPS of .905. He is playing at Class AA Biloxi after opening the season at advanced Class A Carolina.
STILL WAITING: Lorenzo Cain remains in a holding pattern as he works his way back from a left groin strain. He has been on the disabled list since June 26 and was eligible to return on Wednesday.
RECORD
This year: 53-35 Last year: 48-40
ATTENDANCE
Friday: 31,452
This year: 1,578,261 (34,310 avg.) Last year: 1,318,020 (28,653 avg.)
COMING UP
Saturday: Braves at Brewers, 3:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Brent Suter (0-0, 15.00) vs. Atlanta RHP Anibal Sánchez (3-2, 2.89). TV: FS1. Radio: AM-620.