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W: Marco Estrada (7-4)
L: Mike Minor (13-8)
HR: Carlos Gomez (22), Jonathan Lucroy (18), Aramis Ramirez (12)
MVP: Marco Estrada (+.374 WPA)
LVP: Sean Halton (-.063 WPA)
There are moments where you wonder how this team ended up 16 games under .500. Tonight the Brewers faced an (admittedly shorthanded) Braves team with the NL's best record and kept them off the board for nine innings, riding three home runs to a 5-0 victory.
Marco Estrada was the story tonight, working seven shutout innings and allowing just two runs and three walks, striking out six. He also had two hits in the game, and has now thrown 6.2 or more innings in five consecutive appearances. He now has a 2.26 ERA since coming off the DL.
The Brewers supported him with the long ball as Carlos Gomez hit a solo shot in the first, Jonathan Lucroy hit a two-run blast in the fifth and Ramirez tacked on another homer in the eighth. Gomez's homer was the lone highlight in a long night for him: He went 1-for-5 with four strikeouts and slammed his bat in frustration in the ninth. Ramirez's bomb was the third of his three hits in the game.
This series continues tomorrow when Tyler Thornburg takes on Freddy Garcia at 6:10.