Brewers beat Braves to spoil Acuna’s return
Atlanta star hits long homer in first game back from knee surgery
Eric Lauer allowed one earned run, Christian Yelich’s infield single was the big hit in Milwaukee’s four-run sixth inning, and the streaking Brewers beat the Atlanta Braves 6-3 on Friday night.
The NL Central-leading Brewers have won four straight and nine of 10.
Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna Jr. opened the fourth with a 450foot homer to center field — his first since returning from knee surgery.
Astros 3, Tigers 2: Chas Mccormick and Martin Maldonado hit consecutive homers and Luis Garcia worked seven strong innings as Houston stretched their winning streak to a season-high five games.
Twins 2, Athletics 1: Byron Buxton hit his ninth home run of the season and Jose Miranda connected for the first homer of his career, backing another sharp start by rookie Josh Winder and sending Minnesota over Oakland. Twins reliever Emilio Pagan escaped a basesloaded, one-out jam in the ninth inning and sent the A’s to their seventh straight loss.
Notes: The Minnesota Twins have avoided a scare with star shortstop Carlos Correa, whose right middle finger is not broken as initially feared following a hit-by-pitch in the previous game. The CT scan Friday confirmed that he did not suffer a fracture, president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said. He’s just bruised and sore. His status will be evaluated day to day, and he won’t have to go on the injured list . ... Two-time Gold Glove-winning outfielder Tyler
O’neill went to a salary arbitration hearing with the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday, asking a three-man panel to award him $4.15 million rather than the team’s $3.4 million offer. A decision from arbitrators Mark Burstein, Brian Keller and John Stout is not expected for several weeks. The three heard the case remotely . ... Major League Baseball veteran umpire Dan Bellino has issued an apology after ejecting Arizona Diamondbacks star pitcher Madison Bumgarner from a game in Miami this week. The Diamondbacks said Friday they received a copy of Bellino’s apology from MLB. “I would like to address my actions on May 4th involving Madison Bumgarner,” the statement said. “When I began my MLB career almost 15 years ago, I received some good advice. I was told to umpire every game as if my children were sitting in the front row. I fell short of those expectations this week. While I can’t go back and change what happened, I take full accountability. I will learn from this incident, and I sincerely apologize.” Bumgarner gave up a leadoff homer to the Marlins’ Jon Berti in the first inning Wednesday and then retired the next three batters. As he was walking to the dugout, the veteran left-hander gestured with his arm before holding his hand out for Bellino to take a look. Bumgarner said something to Bellino as the check was ending, and the umpire threw him out. The 32-yearold then started yelling at Bellino and had to be restrained by some coaches.