Ned Yost must have really wanted to win the rubber match against the Mets. After telling his top two hitters from last year, Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, that he didn’t intend to switch their spots in the batting order to what was used more often last year–Braun as the #3 hitter, with Prince batting cleanup–he decided to throw caution (and his pride) to the wind and returned them to their 2007 spots.
Braun went 1-for-5 to drop his BA to .226…but he drove in a pair. Fielder went 0-for-4 to dip to .222.
But the rest of the club went about their business to beat the Mets 9-7 in the rubber match at Shea and to take the series two games to one. The Brewers’ road record now stands at 4-2…same as their home record, resulting in and 8-4 record overall, still in second behind the Cardinals. The Brewers visit the Cardinals in St. Louis on Tuesday for their first trip there.
The Crew spotted starter Jeff Suppan a 2-0 lead in the first on Gabe Kapler’s fourth homer of the year, plating Rickie Weeks as well; but Suppan gave up a gopher ball to Mets’ third baseman David Wright in the bottom half of the frame, followed by another two runs in the bottom of the 2nd, then another three in the bottom of the 3rd to give the Mets a 6-2 lead.
But the Brewers’ bats finally figured out Mets stater Oliver Perez with a four run fourth to tie the game–first Jason Kendall returned to form with an RBI single that plated Corey Hart and J.J. Hardy, then scored with Kapler on Braun’s RBI single with two outs (so everyone can say that the switch might have helped after all).
Suppan pitched a scoreless fourth, but was pulled after that–all 6 runs were earned, upping his ERA to 4.67.
The Brewers scored another pair in the top of the 6th off the Mets’ pen–first Weeks’ homered to lead off the inning, while Corey Hart drove in Kapler later on to give the Crew an 8-6 lead. Both teams scored a lone run in the 7th–Kapler doubled in Weeks with two down this time. Weeks scored three times and drove in a run, while Kapler went 3-for-4, scored three and drove in three on the day. Eric Gagne came in to earn his third Save of the year; Salomon Torres got the Win; while Brian Shouse and Guillermo Mota each earned their third Hold of the season.
The Brewers also tied an MLB record in turning 5 double plays on the day!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
