Things started out pretty nicely for Brewers’ starter Carlos Villanueva Friday night–Ryan Braun gave “V” an early 2-0 cushion with a 2-run homer in the top of the first (Braun now has gotten a hit in 10 of his last 11 games, and an RBI in his last 4 games), and another pair of runs in the top of the 5th, leading to a nice 4-0 cushion.
But Villanueva tired–first giving up a 2-run homer to Hunter Pence in the 6th, then another 2-run shot to Miguel Tejada, also in the 6th…and also with nobody out. Then, right after Tejada, Lance Berkman hit a solo shot…followed by a Carlos Lee solo homer, to chase Villanueva to the showers and give the Astros a 6-4 lead. Pence added a solo shot in the 8th off David Riske for the final run of the game.
Villanueva only threw 84 pitches over the 5+ innings (60 for strikes), leading me to believe that his stamina isn’t quite there yet. Prince Fielder was the only Brewer to collect mulitple hits, going 3-for-4 to up his BA to .260.
Manny Parra gets the ball tonight for the Crew.
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