Saturday’s afternoon game–the 2nd of 3 versus the Giants–had the Brewers sending lefty Manny Parra against the S.F. Giants…and, much like Villanueva yesterday, Parra also lasted 5.33 IP. Only this time, the Brewers’ bats were a bit more quiet…nonetheless, Milwaukee held on to defeat San Francisco, 5-4, to up their record to 4-1 and remain tied with the Cardinals for first in the NL Central.
The Crew took an early1-0 lead in the bottom of the second off Giants’ starter Kevin Correia, after catcher Mike Rivera dribbled a 2-2 slider in the infield that plated Corey Hart from second on the throw to first. In a dèjá vu moment, Rivera doubled in Hart in the bottom on the fifth to spot Parra with a 2-0 lead, and eventual scored himself on a Gabe Gross single for Gross’ first RBI of the year.
Rivera gave a run back, however, in the 6th, after being charged with a passed ball that enabled Giants’ left fielder Eugenio Velez to score (side note: I would have ruled it a ‘wild pitch’, as Parra’s delivery was above the letters on Randy Winn’s uniform); Winn later scored in the inning to cut the Crew’s lead to 3-2.
Ryan Braun added an insurance run on his first homer of the year in the bottom of the 6th, only to have that negated by a Daniel Ortmeier run for the Giants in the next half inning to bring the score to 4-3. Gabe Kapler then countered with his first homer of the year, a solo shot, in the bottom of the 7th, only to have the Giants’ Ray Durham do the same in the top of the 8th to return the lead to just a lone run.
Eric Gagne came in for the 9th, and made quick work of the 8-9-1 hitters, going 1-2-3 to give the Crew the win and earn his first save of the year.
The Brewers go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 p.m., sending righty Ben Sheets (0-0, 0.00) against lefty Barry Zito (0-1, 7.20), before a day off on Monday. Zito had an ERA above 12.00 in two starts at Miller Park in ’07, and the Brewers have even more right-handed starters this year than last.
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