Dave Bush had his best outing of the season last night against the Atlanta Braves. Unfortunately, the bats didn’t wake up until after he had left the game, so Bush got a no decision.
Bush pitched seven innnings while only giving up two solo home runs. The first came in the first inning by Kelly Johnson and the second came the following inning by Gregor Blanco. After that, Bush was lights out. He gave up only six hits and walked a lone batter in pitching his longest outing of the season.
Julian Tavarez made his debut with the team and pitched a scoreless eighth inning and struck out one. Salomon Torres came on in the ninth and held the Braves scoreless as well.
The Brewers scored a single run in the seventh and eighth to tie the game setting the stage for big time fireworks in the ninth.
Bill Hall, who has been relegated to part-time duty lately, came in and got a broken bat hit to right field. Rickie Weeks bunted him over to second with Mike Cameron coming up. Cameron took the first three pitches for balls. As the count stood at 3-0, Hall took off on the fourth pitch to steal third. Cameron took strike one and Hall stole third base without a throw from Brian McCann. Cameron then hit a fly ball to left field for the out. Bill Hall tagged up at third and broke for home. Hall beat the throw and scored the winning run on what was an emotional night for Hall.
As I said earlier, Hall has been demoted to a platoon role although manager Ned Yost won’t say that specifically. Hall is an all-star when facing left handed pitching but is simply horrible against righties, hitting well under .200 against them. Hall has proven that he still has the pop in his bat but he needs more discipline at the plate and I hope he can pull it off. I’ve rooted deeply for Hall and he was a major reason I came back to this team in 2004. He plays hard and is an exciting player. He’s always put the team first and never complained until this past weekend about constant defensive movement the past three years. If he can turn things around don’t be surprise if the team gets as hot as Hall does.
Jeff Suppan takes the mound Wednesday night for the Crew as they look to win the series against the Braves.
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