Milwaukee Brewers: 3 straight homers back up dominant Jimmy Nelson
By Phil Watson
Jimmy Nelson shut down the Detroit Tigers over eight dominant innings Tuesday night and the Milwaukee Brewers hit their first back-to-back-to-back home runs in nearly three years to power their way to an 8-1 win at Comerica Park.
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It was Milwaukee’s second straight win in Detroit and the Brewers can complete their first series sweep of the season with a win on Wednesday night.
Nelson (2-4) won for the first time in more than a month, since his first start of the season on April 11—a span of six starts.
He allowed only a run on three hits with four walks and five strikeouts over eight innings, with Detroit not hitting just one ball—Miguel Cabrera’s ground-ball single in the eighth inning—out of the infield after the third.
Nelson recorded 13 ground-ball outs in all before Corey Knebel worked a 1-2-3 ninth in his Brewers debut, striking out one. He was recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs on Monday.
Detroit’s lone run came in the first when Ian Kinsler walked, stole second and went to third on Martin Maldonado’s throwing error and scored on a single by J.D. Martinez.
“That’s what I need to be able to do from inning No. 1,” Nelson told MLB.com. “That’s something I’ve battled a little bit before—the first inning or two. It was nice to get out of that [first] inning with just one run. I got away with some stuff. Those guys picked me up big, offensively and defensively.”
But the Brewers (15-25) gave Nelson all the support he needed in the third inning, exploding for six runs off Detroit starter Anibal Sanchez (3-5).
Hector Gomez lined a one-out double to left, moved to third when Maldonado flew out and scored on a bunt single by Carlos Gomez.
Carlos Gomez stole second and Gerardo Parra walked before Milwaukee brought out the big lumber.
Ryan Braun went opposite field, hitting his ninth homer of the season—and his eighth this month—to push the Brewers ahead 4-1.
But Adam Lind followed with a homer of his own to right field, No. 7 on the season, and Aramis Ramirez made it three straight long balls with his second homer in as many nights and fifth of the year, a shot to left-center.
Braun, who finished with four RBI, was impressed with Nelson’s effort.
“He dominated a great hitting team [Tuesday night] and that’s not an easy thing to do in their ballpark,” Braun said. “That’s an exciting thing for us moving forward, knowing you have a guy like that who’s going to be somewhere near the top of our rotation for a lot of years to come. It was a great sign of what he’s capable of.”
The Brewers nearly made it four consecutive home runs, but Khris Davis flied out to center field, a ball that leaves many parks, but was swallowed up at spacious Comerica.
It was Milwaukee’s first time with three straight homers since Braun, Ramirez and Corey Hart turned the trick against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Aug. 27, 2012.
The Brewers tacked on a run in the fourth. Luis Sardinas singled to lead off the inning and moved up to second back on a groundout. With two outs, Carlos Gomez doubled to left to chase Sanchez—who allowed seven runs in just 3.2 innings for the Tigers (23-17).
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Milwaukee got an extra run in the ninth off right-hander Joba Chamberlain when Parra singled with two outs and came around to score when Braun skied a double to center.
Lind followed with a ground-ball up the middle for a single, but Anthony Gose threw out Braun at the plate.
Carlos Gomez was 3-for-5, while Parra, Braun, Lind and Sardinas each had two hits. Sardinas is 6-for-14 since being called up from Colorado Springs last week.
Right-hander Kyle Lohse (3-4, 5.85 ERA)—who threw eight shutout innings in his last start—takes the ball at 6:08 p.m. Central on Wednesday as the Brewers go for their first series sweep. Right-hander Shane Greene (4-2, 4.21) counters for Detroit.
Lohse is 7-6 with a 5.66 ERA in 21 appearances, 20 starts, and 111.1 innings against the Tigers, but all but two of those outings came when he was with the Minnesota Twins from 2001-06. Greene, in his second big-league season, will be facing the Brewers for the first time in his career.
Next: Gomez Returns From Beaning With A Bang