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Braves rally to top Brewers

May 23, 2014 - 3:38 AM Atlanta, GA (SportsNetwork.com) - Ryan Doumit's two-run single capped a three- run rally in the seventh inning that lifted the Atlanta Braves to a 5-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in the finale of a four-game series Thursday.

Atlanta's winning rally came during a long and sometimes tedious half inning that included a more than seven-minute delay over a mixed up pitching change, a successful Braves challenge overturning a force out and an infield RBI double by Gerald Laird.

B.J. Upton hit a solo homer and Chris Johnson had three hits for the Braves, who won three games in the series.

Aaron Harang gave up four runs and struck out five in 5 1/3 innings and Alex Wood (4-5) pitched a scoreless seventh for the win. Craig Kimbrel hit Logan Schafer leading off the ninth, then struck out the next three batters for his 12th save.

Jonathan Lucroy had two RBI and Jean Segura finished with three hits and two runs scored for the Brewers, who fell to 2-5 in a 10-game road trip.

Milwaukee slugger Ryan Braun left the game in the fifth inning with tightness in his right side.

Brewers starter Matt Garza came out after giving up singles to Johnson and Dan Uggla in the seventh and Laird drove a Brandon Kintzler (1-2) pitch off third baseman Mark Reynolds's glove. Johnson scored on the hit, which deflected into shallow left field, and Laird hustled to second base.

Then, chaos.

After Brewers manager Ron Roenicke called for a double-switch, Zach Duke ran onto the field from the bullpen instead of Will Smith, the pitcher Roenicke wanted.

Smith entered and threw eight warmup pitches as umpires huddled for a lengthy discussion about the mixup. Smith remained on the mound and Doumit drove a single up the middle to knock in two and give the Braves a 5-4 lead.

Atlanta won a challenge after Brewers second baseman Jeff Bianchi dove for a Jayson Heyward hit up the middle and backhanded the ball to the bag with his glove, apparently forcing Doumit out at second. Replays showed Segura wasn't on the bag.

"It was a long inning. It was weird," said Doumit. "I think you're going to see a lot of it (with the new replay rules this season). You can challenge anything."

Earlier, Segura led off the game with a single, stole second base and scored on Lucroy's two-out double to the right-field corner.

They teamed up again to give Milwaukee a 2-0 lead in the third, with Segura starting the inning with a double and coming home on Lucroy's two-out single.

The Braves scored in the third inning after Uggla drew a leadoff walk, was bunted to second by Harang and came home on Heyward's single.

But the Brewers restored their two-run lead in the fourth when Lyle Overbay doubled, advanced to third on Khris Davis' groundout and scored on Schafer's squeeze bunt to make it 3-1.

Reynolds singled in the sixth and scored later on Davis' base hit to push Milwaukee's lead to 4-1 and chase Harang from the game.

Upton went the other way with a 1-1 fastball in the sixth inning for a two-out homer to right field, his fourth of the season. It hit off the top of the padding before going over the wall.

It was the second time Harang and Garza faced each other this season.

Harang threw 6 2/3 shutout innings in a 1-0 Braves win over Milwaukee on April 2. Garza took the loss in his Brewers debut despite retiring the first 11 batters and allowing just two hits in eight innings.

He gave up four runs on five hits in this one.

"It hurts," Garza said of the game getting away. "But we just gotta keep going. We're still in a good situation, a good spot. We just gotta keep fighting and grinding. ... We've got some guys banged up and some guys nursing some things. We've just gotta keep going and finding a way."

Game Notes

Atlanta won another challenge in the eighth, successfully arguing that Schafer trapped Johnson's hit in center field and didn't catch it ... The Braves continue a nine-game homestand with three against Colorado starting Friday ... Milwaukee finishes its road trip with a three-game series in Miami starting Friday.