Brewers Outslugged by Braves 10-8

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 Starters:

MIL – Randy Wolf: 4.1 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 3 BB, 1 K, 2 HR (98 pitches, 56 strikes)
ATL – Jair Jurrjens: 5 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 HR (81 pitches, 52 strikes)

MIL Highlights:

Corey Hart: 2-5, 2B, HR
Ryan Braun: 3-5
George Kottaras: 1-1, 2 BB, HR

ATL Highlights:

Brian McCann: 4-5, 2B, HR
Dan Uggla: 3-5
Michael Bourn: 2-4, 3B, BB

Thoughts:

— The original defecit was largely the result of a start Randy Wolf would probably like to forget. When Wolf is on, he is able to mix his pitches and locations enough to keep hitters off-balance, resulting in a lot of groundouts and lazy fly balls. Tonight, that didn’t happen. The Braves weren’t fooled by much of anything Wolf had to offer tonight, and were able to tee off with relative ease. When a pitcher already prone to giving up homers suddenly has to deal with a flurry of baserunners… you get a night like tonight.

— As soon as the Brewers tied the game in the eighth inning, they gave it right back up. Francisco Rodriguez allowed a single and a walk before getting the first out thanks to a diving play by Rickie Weeks. K-Rod’s command was very erratic tonight, so Ron Roenicke elected to have him pitch to Dan Uggla with runners on second on third and a drawn-in infield. Uggla laced a single to the left side of the infield to put the Braves up 10-8.

Predictably, there was a lot of unhappiness with the decision to pitch to Uggla (.822 career OPS) instead of walking him in favor of Matt Diaz (.778 , with most of the damage done against lefties). However, I’m not sure if I wouldn’t have done the same thing. Roenicke was in a major pickle, with a struggling pitcher on the mound (and no ready alternatives), and an excellent hitter at the plate. Walking Uggla would merely change the scenario to “reliever struggling with command pitching with bases loaded” and “decent hitter at the plate”. The move backfired pretty badly, but I don’t think it was a terrible move in light of the other options.

— Corey Hart hit another dinger today, giving him the league lead in home runs. Unfortunately, he also struck out to end the game on one of those low-and-away sliders that has given him fits as long as we can remember. Catcher of Randy Wolf/living legend George Kottaras also, had a big day, hitting a home run in the fourth inning, walking twice, and laying down a sacrifice bunt. 

Hopefully, we’ll be able to put a more positive spin on things tomorrow.