An electric crowd of 43,489 was on hand to witness the Brewers rally from down 2-4 thanks to another unbelievable game by Ryan Braun. Dave Bush was not sharp by any means on Saturday evening, and he only pitched 5.0 innings, gave up 4 earned runs and 9 hits in the process. He was in line for the loss in the fourth when Astros’ right-fielder Hunter Pence crushed a hanging curveball for a solo home run that gave his club a 3-2 lead. The Brewers had staked their right-hander a 2-0 advantage thanks to a pair of sacrifice flies by Ryan Braun (one in the first inning that scored Ray Durham and one in the third that brought the second-baseman in again). After Lance Berkman knocked in Kazuo Matsui in the fifth, Houston had a two run lead that held up until the bottom of the seventh. Durham walked with one out, Craig Counsell popped out, and Milwaukee’s powerful left-fielder hammered a pitch that cleared the center field wall and gave the sellout crowd a lot to cheer about.
Eric Gagne continued his string of good outings with a scoreless eighth, and he was aided by a sliding catch from Braun to retire the side. In the Milwaukee half, Corey Hart lead off with a double and Bill Hall immediately brought him in with a looping single to center. Up 5-4, the Brewers’ catcher Jason Kendall was batting with Hall on third and he grounded to Houston’s third-baseman Ty Wigginton, but Wigginton bobbled the ball and had to settle for the out at first, thus, Hall touched home. Closer Salomon Torres continued to prove that he is one of the best off-season acquisitions made by G.M. Doug Melvin as he skillfully protected the 6-4 lead and picked up his 20th save in the process.
Offensive MVP: LF Ryan Braun (1-2/1R/1HR/4RBI/0BB/0K)
Pitching MVP: RP Eric Gagne (1IP/0H/0HR/0ER/0BB/0SO/Win-4th)
My Take:
What a difference two months and seven days makes. On May 19, 2008, the Milwaukee Brewers stood at 20-24, had just been humiliated by the Boston Red Sox in a three game sweep, were dead last in the NL Central, and were 7.0 games behind the Chicago Cubs, who were appearing to run away with the division. On July 26, 2008, they are 60-44, have recently returned to Milwaukee after completing a four game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, and are no games behind the Chicago Cubs. The way the club has bounced back from such a poor start is as astounding as it is encouraging. There is a lot of baseball left to be played in 2008, but when you consider the fact that Milwaukee has surged to a first-place tie after being as many as 8.5 games behind this season, I like their chances to make this the greatest year for Brewers’ baseball since 1982.
