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 Six times in the last 10 meetings between the teams, the Braves
had been shut out, including a 2-0 loss on Opening Day, the Brewers'
second consecutive shutout of Atlanta.
"The last three or four years, we haven't really done well against
the Brewers or here at Miller Park," said first baseman Freddie
Freeman.
That dubious streak came to an end as Freeman hit a pair of home
runs and right fielder Jason Heyward added a third in a 5-2 victory
Tuesday night at Miller Park.
"It's nice to get the first one out of the way," said Freeman, who
finished the day 3-for-3 with a walk. "As an offense, we knew we
weren't going to get shut out of the whole 162. ... We let them
sweat it out for the first 15 innings."
The Braves' offensive explosion — relatively speaking, of course — made things much easier for left-hander Alex Wood, who was making
his 2014 debut and just his 12th career start.
Wood (1-0) was tested early. Brewers center fielder Carlos Gomez
drilled his first offering of the game — a 90 miles-per-hour
fastball — 423 feet to straight-away center, giving Milwaukee and
right-hander Kyle Lohse an early 1-0 lead.
Wood, though, dug in and kept the Brewers' lineup at bay the rest of
the day, scattering five hits and three walks over seven strong
innings.
"First pitch of the game, first hitter, you don't have much choice
than to put it behind you from the get-go," said Wood, who also
struck out five. "It took me a few innings to settle in but after
that, I got into a groove, got my fastball command back and just
took off from there."
Lohse (0-1) got off to a good start as well, cursing through the
first four innings before allowing a one-out walk, his first of the
day, to shortstop Andrelton Simmons in the fifth.
He followed that by striking out Wood before Heyward snapped the
Braves' scoreless streak with a two-run home run to right, giving
Atlanta a 2-1 lead.
"He tried to throw the fastball in and actually got it in," Brewers
manager Ron Roenicke said. "Heyward did a nice job of pulling his
hands and he's dangerous. You make a decent pitch and he still hits
a home run off of it."
Lohse got out of the inning on second baseman Dan Uggla's ground out
to short but Freeman, leading off the sixth, worked Lohse full
before ripping into a backdoor slider for his first home run of the
season.
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"That's how this game goes," said Lohse, who struck out eight in his
seven-inning outing. "You've got to make your pitches. Every time
you miss, there's a chance something like that can happen. I felt
good, I felt strong. I would have liked to have a little better
result."
Gomez prevented the Braves from tying the game in the fourth,
fielding Uggla's double at the wall and rifling a spot-on throw to
shortstop Jean Segura, whose relay got to catcher Jonathan Lucroy in
plenty of time to catch Freeman and end the inning.
"That was huge," Lohse said. "They've been working hard on that all
spring and did a great job picking me up right there. I wish I would
have picked them up a little better after that."
After Freeman took left-hander Zach Duke deep for his second home
run of the game, Milwaukee third baseman Aramis Ramirez made it 4-2
with an RBI single — his third hit of the day — but shortstop
Andrelton Simmons restored the three-run lead with a sacrifice fly
in the top of the ninth.
Braves right-hander Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the bottom
of the inning for his first save of the season.
NOTES: Atlanta lost nine of its previous 10 games at Miller Park and
was 2-8 in the previous 10 meetings with Milwaukee overall. ...
Braves SS Andrelton Simmons has a .333 average (8-for-24) in seven
career games at Miller Park after going 0-for-2 with a walk and a
sacrifice fly. ... Sixteen of the Brewers' first 19 games this
season come against teams that won at least 94 games and qualified
for the playoffs last season. ... The Braves' decimated pitching
staff got encouraging news Tuesday. LHP Mike Minor, RHP Gavin Floyd
and RHP Ervin Santana are all scheduled to make minor league starts
this week, with Santana expected to be ready to join the major
league club around April 14.
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