Atlanta Braves starter Sean Newcomb had a tough outing Sunday in Milwaukee as the Brewers hit four home runs and won 10-3.MILWAUKEE – Jesus Aguilar is bashing his way to a breakout season.
Just listen to his skipper sing his praises.
“He’s been brilliant, man, he really has,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said.
Aguilar homered twice and Hernan Perez added a three-run shot Sunday, powering the Brewers to a 10-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
Aguilar hit a solo drive in the seventh and a three-run homer in the eighth. The burly slugger moved into a tie with Colorado’s Nolan Arenado for the NL lead with 22 home runs this season.
Aguilar, 28, has 11 homers and 26 RBIs in his past 20 games after hitting a career-high 16 homers last year.
“He’s having an MVP season, he really is,” Counsell said. “He’s having an incredible season.”
Milwaukee also got another solid start from Junior Guerra (6-5) in its sixth win in seven games. The right-handed pitcher allowed one run and seven hits in six innings, helped by three double plays. He struck out four and walked three in his third straight win.
“I credit them for making him work a little bit,” Counsell said. “But he still kept it together and made big pitches with some guys on base.”
Freddie Freeman had three hits and drove in a run for Atlanta, which has dropped five of six. The Braves remained in a virtual tie with Philadelphia for the NL East lead, percentage points back of the Phillies.
Atlanta left-hander Sean Newcomb (8-4) was tagged for five runs and five hits in 3 2/3 innings. He lasted just 2 2/3 innings in his previous outing against the New York Yankees, allowing five runs and three hits with five walks.
“It was probably feel,” Newcomb said. “Not having my best stuff. Not getting ahead of hitters and attacking them the way I should be. Wipe it clean and move forward.”
Milwaukee grabbed control with five runs in the third. Christian Yelich singled in Jonathan Villar, and Travis Shaw had a sacrifice fly before Perez hit a drive to center field for his sixth homer of the season.
Eric Thames opened the eighth with the pinch-hit home run of his MLB career, making it 7-1 with his 13th homer of 2018.
Atlanta got on the board in the fifth. Dansby Swanson doubled and scored when shortstop Tyler Saladino misplayed Ender Inciarte’s pop fly in shallow left for an error. The Braves had runners on the corners with one out when Guerra got Freeman to bounce into a double play.
The Braves left runners on second and third in the sixth when Swanson flied to right. They completed the scoring in the ninth – Danny Santana drew a one-out walk before scoring on Tyler Flowers’ single, and Freeman’s two-out double brought Flowers home.
“We had the big innings this series,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Three or four big innings that we couldn’t get out of the way of. Our starters have been really solid, but we are going through a rut with them now.”
Milwaukee closed out a 6-1 homestand and stayed 1 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Cubs in the NL Central. At 54-36, the Brewers are off to the best 90-game start in franchise history.
Atlanta is off Monday before hosting a two-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Right-hander Julio Teheran (6-6, 4.47) is scheduled to start for the Braves on Tuesday, opposed by Marcus Stroman (1-6, 6.50 ERA).
Teheran is 2-5 with 4.89 ERA in his past seven starts.