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Legendary Hank Aaron passes away

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Henry Aaron posing for a photo with WRN Brewers reporter Jeff Miller.

Wisconsin lost another one of its all-time great sports legends when Hank Aaron passed away in Atlanta at the age of 86.

Aaron debuted with the Milwaukee Braves in 1954 at the age of 20.  He played 21 seasons for the Braves in Milwaukee and Atlanta.  He returned to Milwaukee ton finish out his career with the Brewers in 1975-76.

In 1957, Aaron was named the National League’s MVP.  His two-run home run off of St. Louis’ Billy Moffett in the bottom of the 11th clinched the pennant and sent the Braves to the World Series, where they beat the New York Yankees in seven games.

Aaron passed Babe Ruth’s home run mark of 714 in 1974.  Number 715 came off of Dodgers lefty Al Downing, during a game in Atlanta.  That would be Aaron’s final season with the Braves.

His return to Milwaukee helped the Brewers set a club record for attendance.  He finished out his career with 755 home runs.

Aaron made 21 all-star appearances and won three Gold Gloves for his play in right field.  His home run record was eventually topped in 2007 by San Francisco’s Barry Bonds, who finished with 762 for his career.

Aaron is the only player to hit at least 30 home runs in 15 seasons.  He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, having received 97.8% of the votes cast by baseball writers in 1982.

The Atlanta Braves made Aaron a vice president and director of player development.

 

Brewers crush Braves 13-1

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Christian Yelich Celebrates

Christian Yelich clubbed a grand slam, Brandon Woodruff went 6.2 strong innings and the Brewers made up for some poor play of late by crushing the Atlanta Braves 13-1 Tuesday night at Miller Park.

The Brewers pounded out 13 hits and also got home runs from Lorenzo Cain and Keston Huira.  Woodruff improved to 11-3 by giving up just the one run.  A six run seventh inning opened up the game.

Milwaukee remains 2 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central.  They host the Braves in the rubber match of the series on Wednesday afternoon, with Chase Anderson throwing against Dallas Kuechel.

Brewers drop series opener to Braves

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Keston Huira – Courtesy of MLB

The Milwaukee Brewers lost for the 18th time in 27 games with a 4-2 setback to the Atlanta Braves on Monday night at Miller Park.

The script was written differently in the loss, as the Brewers got solid pitching but little offense.  Adrian Houser allowed four runs and eight hits in his six innings, and manager Craig Counsell said afterwards Houser threw the ball well.  The bullpen, which has struggled of late, didn’t allow a run over three innings.

However, lefty Max Fried shut the Brewers out over five innings as the Atlanta starter, and the Brewers only runs came in the sixth off middle reliever Josh Tomlin.  Keston Huira went 3-for-4 and was a home run shy of the cycle.  Christian Yelich added two hits.

The Brewers are 48-47 but trail first place Chicago in the NL Central by just 2 1/2 games after the Cubs lost in Cincinnati.  Tuesday night will see Brandon Woodruff throw for the Brewers against Bryce Wilson.

19 hits isn’t enough for Brewers

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Manager Craig Counsell

The Milwaukee Brewers collected 19 hits on Sunday, yet still fell to the Atlanta Braves 8-7.

Brewers starter Chase Anderson struggled from the start and made it through just four innings before manager Craig Counsell was forced to go to the bullpen.  It’s the second straight outing that Anderson has been unable to make it to the fifth inning and protect a lead.

Corey Knebel, who is no longer working in a closer capacity was entrusted with the fifth inning and he proved he wasn’t able to handle that spot either.  He allowed a run after a pair of one-out doubles by Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis.

Rookie Corbin Burnes coughed up a two-run homer in the sixth and Atlanta’s Ozzie Albies finished off the Braves comeback with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the seventh off of Dan Jennings.

The 19 hits were offset by the Brewers going 4 for 14 with runners in scoring position and leaving 13 runners on base.  They fell to 17-30 in day games and are now 4-15 on Sunday’s. [Read more…]

Brewers end April with .500 record thanks to Domingo Santana

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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. [Read more…]

Smith ejected for foreign substance leading to Brewers meltdown

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Brewers RHP Will Smith

What was a competitive pitcher’s duel in Atlanta spun out of control for the Milwaukee Brewers Thursday when relief pitcher Will Smith was ejected for a foreign substance on his right arm in the seventh inning.

Milwaukee’s bullpen would fall apart after the ejection, allowing six more runs in what amounted to a seven-run inning and led to a 10-1 Braves win to open a four-game series.

Smith entered the game with the Brewers trailing 2-1 and runners at the corners. He then hit the first batter he faced to load up the bases. Atlanta manager Freddie Gonzalez then notified the umpires of a shiny substance on Smith’s right arm a couple pitches into the next at-bat.

The umpires gathered around Smith, checked the substance, and promptly threw the lefty out of the game. Braves hitters then registered five consecutive hits off relievers Neal Cotts and Michael Blazek to blow the game open. [Read more…]

Gamel suffers yet another setback

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At one point, Mat Gamel eventually worked his way into the

Mat Gamel

Mat Gamel

Milwaukee Brewers starting lineup, opening the 2012 season at first base.  About a month in, Gamel blew out his knee while chasing a foul ball in San Diego.  His career has been plagued by injuries and one wonders if this is finally it?

Gamel followed that injury in San Diego by tearing his ACL again last spring and eventually was picked up off waivers by the Chicago Cubs.  Chicago released him a short time later and Gamel signed a minor-league deal with the Atlanta Braves.

Gamel was attempting to compete for a spot on Atlanta’s bench.  But while working out in advance of spring training, Gamel suffered another knee injury and has been released by the Braves.  Does Gamel have anything left to try to make yet another comeback?

Gamel was a fourth round pick by the Brewers in 2005 but hit just .229 in 106 career games with the Brewers.

Brewers lose to Braves Sunday, Gomez injured (Audio)

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A rough first inning Sunday prevented the Brewers from notching their first series sweep since mid-April.  They fell to the Braves 7-4 at Miller Park.

Milwaukee starter Alfredo Figaro served up a grand slam to Atlanta’s Brian McCann in the opening inning digging Milwaukee an early hole.  Figaro lasted just 3 1/3 innings on the afternoon allowing 6-runs on 8-hits as he fell to 1-2 on the season.  Brewers Manager Ron Roenicke cited location as Figaro’s biggest downfall…

AUDIO: Ron Roenicke on what Figaro did wrong :12

[Read more…]