Domingo Santana – Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
The Milwaukee Brewers reached the month of May with a .500 record, and avoided a sweep at the hands of the Braves, thanks to the efforts of Domingo Santana. The young right fielder hit two home runs and accounted for all of Milwaukee’s runs in a 4-3 defeat of the Braves at Miller Park on Sunday.
Santana, who had been hitting .169 coming into the weekend series, crushed a solo home run off the video board in deep center to tie the game at one in the fifth. An inning later, Santana snuck his second homer of the day, a three-run shot, over the wall in right-center to hand the Brewers a 4-2 lead. After also hitting a home run in Friday’s loss to Atlanta, the 24-year-old Dominican now has five on the season.
Milwaukee finishes the season’s first month at 13-13, a win total that equals the number of April wins in the last two seasons combined.
The win also saw starter Matt Garza pick up his first win of the season in just his season start since opening the year on the disabled list. The veteran went 6 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on six hits, while walking none and striking out seven. Neftali Feliz worked a scoreless ninth for his sixth save in seven opportunities this season.
Left fielder Ryan Braun left the game after six innings with a sore right arm and tightness in his upper back. Milwaukee was already playing without third baseman Travis Show, who is dealing with a bruised hand.
The Brewers begin a seven-game road trip on Monday night with the first of four games in St. Louis. Zach Davies gets the start for Milwaukee opposite the Cardinals’ Michael Wacha. First pitch is at 7:15 p.m.
AUDIO: Domingo Santana reacts to his two-HR day :12
AUDIO: Craig Counsell says the offense rode Santana to the win :18
AUDIO: Craig Counsell on teams .500 record through April :20