Dodgers 1 - 3 Brewers
Final
  for this game

Brewers win again, top Dodgers

Aug 18, 2011 - 4:09 AM Milwaukee, WI (Sports Network) - Jerry Hairston, Jr's two-run single with the bases loaded in the sixth inning was the difference as Milwaukee kept rolling with a 3-1 decision over Los Angeles in the third installment of a four-game set from Miller Park.

Jonathan Lucroy added a pair of hits and scored once for the Brewers, who reeled off their sixth straight win and 19th in their last 21 contests.

Milwaukee maintained its seven-game lead in the NL Central, since St. Louis won at Pittsburgh earlier on Wednesday.

Zack Greinke (12-4) turned in seven strong innings, allowing five hits and one run with three walks while fanning eight. John Axford worked a scoreless ninth to post his 36th save.

"The ERA has been going down for quite a while now from the start of the year," noted Brewers manager Ron Roenicke of Greinke's key stat, which fell to 3.92. "It was really a good ballgame by him. His fastball was sharp again, and I thought he had a great slider and his breaking balls were really good."

Tony Gwynn finished 3-for-5 and his homer was the sole offense for the Dodgers, who have lost three in a row and seven of 10.

Nathan Eovaldi (1-1) was the hard-luck loser, charged with just five hits and two runs over six full frames.

"The kid's good, he's competitive too," said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly of his starter. "These guys play hard and that's the one thing I'm most proud of. We're not the kind of club that realistically is going to run off a bunch of wins in a row."

The Brewers finally broke through against Eovaldi in the sixth.

After loading the bases with one out thanks to walks to Ryan Braun and Casey McGehee and a single from Prince Fielder, Yuniesky Betancourt flied out harmlessly to center. Hairston then bounced a ball up the middle to score two, but McGehee was caught in a rundown to end the inning.

Gwynn hit a two-out homer in the seventh, but the home team scratched out another run in the home half when Lucroy singled and came around to score on a pair of wild pitches.

LaTroy Hawkins and Axford combined to hold the Dodgers off the board in the final two innings.

"Since the start of the second half, we have all been playing better," Greinke said. "The defense has been great, everyone on this side has been doing his job. Everything we're doing is working well, which doesn't happen very often. Just tonight, I made the pitches that needed to be made."

Both starters dueled to a scoreless deadlock through five. Milwaukee had a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the third derailed when Braun lined into a double play, then LA wasted bases-loaded chance in the fourth.

Game Notes

Milwaukee upped its MLB-best home record to 47-15, including an 18-2 stretch over its last 20 home dates...Axford tied Atlanta's Craig Kimbrel for the major-league lead in saves...Greinke, who has won five consecutive starts, became the first pitcher in Brewers history to win his first nine home decisions with the franchise...LA third baseman Casey Blake departed the game in the sixth with right shoulder pain.






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