HIT THE PINE

Brewers’ reliever Smith ejected for substance on arm

Julio Teheran pitched seven strong innings and the Braves took advantage of Milwaukee reliever Will Smith’s seventhinning ejection for allegedly using pine tar in a 101 blowout victory over the Brewers in Atlanta.

Play was stopped briefly with Atlanta leading 21 and the bases loaded with one out in the seventh when Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez successfully argued to umpires that Smith had pine tar on his right forearm.

Crew chief Jim Joyce walked over to the mound, touched a shiny substance on Smith’s arm and ejected the pitcher from the game. Gonzalez claimed that Smith was breaking the rules after the lefthander threw a pitch that bounced in front of the plate and hit pinchhitter Pedro Ciriaco, the only batter he faced, in the leg.

Smith confirmed he put the substance on his forearm before warming up in the bullpen on a brisk night. He said he regretted not wiping it off before entering the game.

“It was chilly and kind of windy,” Smith said. “I had rosin and sunscreen on my arm. I just forgot to wipe it off before I went out and pitched. I had to kind of get ready in a hurry. I just forgot. That’s it.”

Giants 4, Dodgers 0

In San Francisco, Madison Bumgarner homered off Clayton Kershaw and once again outpitched the reigning NL MVP and Cy Young winner, as the Giants shut out the Dodgers for the third straight day.

San Francisco outscored the Dodgers 100 in sweeping the threegame series. The champion Giants have won six in a row overall. This was the third time this season Bumgarner, the current World Series MVP, had started against Kershaw — the Giants have won all three.

Bumgarner (52) worked around seven hits and two walks in 6¹/₃ innings, striking out six. He improved to 93 in his last 13 starts against the Dodgers.

Bumgarner, who homered in the third, became the first pitcher to homer off Kershaw (23).

Kershaw allowed four runs on seven hits and two walks in 7¹/₃ innings. He has a 4.32 ERA this year.

Rays 3, Athletics 0

In St. Petersburg, Fla., Alex Colome and four relievers combined on a sixhitter, David DeJesus drove in two runs and the Rays took sole possession of first place in the AL East.