ATLANTA — Freddie Freeman and Justin Upton homered to help Mike Minor win his second consecutive start, and the Atlanta Braves beat the Milwaukee Brewers 9-3 Monday night.
ATLANTA — Freddie Freeman and Justin Upton homered to help Mike Minor win his second consecutive start, and the Atlanta Braves beat the Milwaukee Brewers 9-3 Monday night.
Pinch-hitter Ryan Doumit also went deep for Atlanta in a matchup of first-place teams. The Braves, who had lost 12 of 18, never trailed in winning their second straight game.
Atlanta began the night with the fewest runs in the majors. But the Braves banged out 15 hits and improved to 18-5 when hitting a home run.
Minor (2-2) gave up two runs and five hits with five strikeouts in 6 2-3 innings.
Ryan Braun and Khris Davis homered for the Brewers, who have lost three straight and four of six. Braun also threw out a runner at the plate from right field.
Wily Peralta (4-3) allowed nine hits, a season-high four walks and three runs — two earned — with five strikeouts in five innings. The right-hander began the night 1-1 with a 1.29 ERA in three starts this month.
Freeman led off the third with his ninth homer to make it 3-0. Davis lost his glove over the left-field fence on Freeman’s opposite-field shot. A fan picked up the glove off a ledge between the fence and the seats and tossed it back to Davis after Freeman rounded the bases.
The Braves broke open a one-run game in the eighth, scoring five times off reliever Wei-Chung Wang to make it 9-3. Doumit hit a solo shot, Upton’s 11th homer was a two-run drive, and Atlanta got RBI singles from Andrelton Simmons and Ramiro Pena.
After Wang needed 40 pitches to get two outs, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke brought in Lyle Overbay, a career first baseman, off the bench to pitch. The 37-year-old Overbay pitched for the first time in his 1,497 major league games, retiring Doumit on a popup.
Zach Duke, who relieved Peralta to begin the sixth, gave up a leadoff single to Minor and a single to Jason Heyward before Upton reached safely when catcher Martin Maldonado was called for interference.
Rob Wooten relieved with one out and gave up Evan Gattis’ sacrifice fly that made it 4-2.
David Hale relieved Minor with a runner at second base and ended the threat when Carlos Gomez grounded out.
Braun’s seventh homer, an opposite-field shot to right off David Carpenter, cut the margin to 4-3 in the eighth.
Atlanta took a 1-0 lead in the first when Heyward led off with a single, stole second and scored on Maldonado’s passed ball and throwing error to third.
The Braves went ahead 2-0 in the second on Pena’s RBI single.
Davis’ fifth homer, a two-run shot in the fifth, cut it to 3-2.
ASTROS 5, ANGELS 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Dallas Keuchel came within one out of his second consecutive shutout and the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 for their first three-game winning streak of the season.
Jason Castro and Matt Dominguez drove in runs during a three-run first inning for the Astros, who knocked around Garrett Richards (4-1) for 10 hits in the opener of a 10-game road trip.
Keuchel (5-2) followed up his first career shutout with another gem, yielding five hits and striking out eight. He didn’t allow a runner past second base until the ninth, when manager Bo Porter pulled him after two-out infield singles by Mike Trout and Albert Pujols.
Howie Kendrick followed with a two-run triple off Josh Zeid, who got C.J. Cron on a grounder to end the Angels’ third loss in 11 games.
Dexter Fowler and Chris Carter also drove in runs for the Astros (17-28), who still have the AL’s worst record despite six wins in their last eight games.
Keuchel baffled the Angels, whose only hits in the first seven innings were back-to-back singles by Pujols and Kendrick in the fourth. Keuchel retired Los Angeles’ next 10 batters until Grant Green led off the eighth with an infield single.
Keuchel improved to 5-1 in his last eight starts. He has yielded four runs, 18 hits and one walk over 25 1-3 innings in three straight dominant outings.
Houston’s bats also are improving just in time for a three-game series at Angel Stadium, where the Astros have won seven of their last eight. The Astros have at least nine hits in nine straight games for the first time since June 2007.
Richards yielded a season-high 10 hits and five runs over seven innings, leaving him with just two wins in his last seven starts.