|
 "He wasn't locating his pitches," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "He was up in the zone with his fastball and couldn't command the off-speed pitches. He can't pitch that way."
Figaro (1-2) gave up a first-inning grand slam to Brian McCann and solo homers to Chris Johnson in the second and Jordan Schafer in the fourth. The right-hander allowed nine hits, struck out four and walked three.
"You try and hit the spot and sometimes you don't get it and you get the ball up," said Figaro, who lasted 3 1-3 innings.
It marked the second consecutive poor outing by Figaro, who yielded four earned runs and five hits in 4 1-3 innings of a 10-1 loss at Houston on Tuesday.
"That's a part of the game," Figaro said. "You have to keep your head up. You can't just think about a bad game."
Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy said McCann made Figaro pay for a two-out mistake.
"You've got to be able to execute on him. If you don't he'll make you pay," Lucroy said. "He covers the outside so well. If you get behind in the count and you have to give him a pitch out there he's going to whack it."
Brewers outfielder Carlos Gomez sprained his left shoulder when he fell awkwardly near the center-field wall while making a leaping catch of Andrelton Simmons' drive in the fourth. Gomez, hit in the left knee by an earlier pitch from Paul Maholm, immediately left the game clutching his shoulder.
Roenicke said there was no immediate plan to put Gomez on the disabled list.
"Hopefully, it's not going to be too bad," he said. "It could be a couple days, it could be a week. We'll know more tomorrow when they take a look at him."
Gomez was confident he won't miss much time.
"I can move my shoulder. I don't think it will take a lot of time before I'm back to playing," he said. "In a few days, I'll be fine. Probably tomorrow I'll be a little bit sore. I felt my shoulder pop out and come back. I got lucky that it came back."
Gomez said he injured the shoulder when bracing himself as he fell near the outfield wall.
"When I jumped, I expected that the wall was (closer) to me," he explained. "When I jumped I stayed in the air for a long time. I thought I was going to hurt my head and my neck."
He said the team's medical staff told him an MRI isn't necessary at this point.
Gomez also had a bruise on his knee from being hit by the pitch.
"I think my knee hurt more than my shoulder," he said. "There's a little bruise. It's right on the bone."
Gomez broke his left clavicle in a game at Arizona in 2011. He is hitting .312 with 12 home runs, 37 RBIs and 15 stolen bases.
Lucroy was relieved to hear the initial prognosis Sunday.
"I thought he broke his collarbone again. They showed the replay on it and it looked terrible," Lucroy said. "I'm glad to hear that it's just a sprain. He's a big stick and an important part of our team and our lineup."
[to top of second column] |
Beaten 2-0 by the Brewers on Friday and Saturday, the Braves received a much-needed offensive lift from McCann when he connected for his 10th career slam.
"That was big for us," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "If anything, to get ahead and get four runs and then tack on a couple later on and win the game was big. Games like this, they say hitting is contagious. Hopefully, it catches a couple of guys and keeps going."
McCann reached base safely four times in five trips to the plate. Schafer had four hits in five at-bats, including a double.
The Braves, who lead the NL East despite getting shut out a major league-high 11 times this season, snapped an eight-game losing streak at Miller Park dating to April 2011.
Milwaukee scored four times off Maholm in the fifth. Logan Schafer's one-out single drove in two. Lucroy followed with a two-run homer to straightaway center.
Atlanta added a run in the ninth on Dan Uggla's RBI single.
Five Braves relievers held Milwaukee scoreless over the final four innings. Craig Kimbrel earned his 21st save in 24 attempts.
The Brewers loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh but pinch-hitter Juan Francisco, acquired in a trade with Atlanta this month, popped out in foul territory to end the threat.
"We had the bases loaded and had a chance to get a base hit to tie it, and something better than that and we go ahead," Roenicke said. "We still battled and came back and we had some good relief pitching today."
Milwaukee relievers allowed one run in 5 2-3 innings.
Roenicke said he plans to meet with general manager Doug Melvin to discuss options for the team's starting rotation moving forward. Marco Estrada, pitching on a rehab assignment Sunday with Class-A Wisconsin, gave up eight hits and six earned runs in 2 2-3 innings.
"We had tentatively thought that if Marco's outing today went well that we would slide him in. Now I don't know if we'll be able to do that," Roenicke said.
Maholm (8-6) entered 3-11 with a 5.12 ERA against the Brewers and had lost six consecutive decisions to them over eight starts. His last win against Milwaukee came in 2009.
This time, he gave up four runs and eight hits over five innings while walking one and striking out three.
"The offense was the big thing today," Maholm said. "I pitched well for four innings and then gave up some runs, but it's good for the team to leave here with a win."
NOTES: In recognition of Polish Heritage Day, Milwaukee sported red caps and white jerseys with red accents and blue and gold lettering with the name Piwowarzy, which means Brewers in Polish, across the front. ... Milwaukee 3B Aramis Ramirez was given a day off to rest a balky knee. Jeff Bianchi started in his place. ... OF Justin Upton was out of the Braves' lineup again with an injured right hand. ... Milwaukee 2B Rickie Weeks has a hit in 16 consecutive starts.
[Associated
Press; By RICH ROVITO]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|
